JazzMadrid, a deluge of music in capital letters

In emblematic places of the capital such as the cultural space CentroCentro, the Condeduque Cultural Center Condeduque, Matadero Madrid or the Fernán Gómez Theater of the Villa Cultural Centersome of the best international artists of the moment will compete in front of the audience with new creators, offering a range of rhythms from classic jazz to avant-garde, caressing adjacent styles like flamenco, electro or African rhythms.

The program, which began on September 13 with the first concert of Villanos del Jazz, will end on November 30 with two very special events: the presentations of the South African pianist Nduduzo Makhatini and the Madrid singer Dora, with her mix of music garage. , electronic and bolero.

JazzMadrid 2024 includes 108 concerts in official programming to which are added 81 others and a conference on gender. In addition to the quality of its musicians, the festival is an international reference for the number of stages in which it is celebrated. Up to 47 venues in Madrid host the shows, including, in addition to the municipal cultural spaces, the Pavón Theater, the National Music Auditorium, Sala La Riviera, Sala Villanos and the Teatros del Canal.

Added to the JazzMadrid 2024 program in the city are the Ciudad Lineal Jazz Festival, Jazz in the Neighborhoods (21 neighborhoods), Jazz Círculo, Jazz con Sabor a Club (Madrid en Vivo) and Villanos del Jazz. Other concert halls such as Café Central, Café Jazz El Despertar, Café Berlin, Tempo Audiophile Club and Sala Maravillas will also host performances. This edition continues to benefit from the collaboration of AIE En Ruta Jazz and the Zaragoza Jazz Festival.

Latin surprises

JazzMadrid 2024 includes in its programming notes from the Caribbean, Brazil and other places in South America with concerts by Cubans Gastón Joya, Román Filiú, Maykel Blanco, pianists Ernán López-Nussa and Roberto Fonseca, Yuley Díaz, the trombone quintet of Demetrio Muñoz and the couples formed by Ariel Brínguez and Iván Melón Lewis.

Also in this section are the double bassists Pía Tedesco and Lila Horovitz, originally from Argentina. From Colombia comes the prepared sound of salsa, cumbia and vallenato of the Meridian Brothers and from Brazil, the concerts of Munir Hossn, Rogê and Eliane Elias, a pianist and singer increasingly engaged in the country’s popular music. His journey, in the album he presents, Quietude, goes from Jobim to Dorival Caymmi, without forgetting Geraldo Pereira or Haroldo Barbosa, among others.

On the JazzMadrid 2024 poster, we find voices inspired by blues and spirituals, such as those of José James, the Italian Vinicio Capossela, the Santo Domingo J Noa, the Guatemalan Gaby Moreno and two authors -singer-composers born and raised in Catalonia: Láu Noah and Judith Nedderman.

Female voices predominate on the current scene and the festival audience will be able to appreciate artists such as Lizz Wright, Robin McKelle, Judith Hill and Dora. Dee Dee Bridgewater will delight any lover of the vocal jazz tradition and Lady Blackbird will delight those in attendance with artistry that stands out in the most recent soul-jazz. Also on the bill will be the Lithuanian Viktorija Pilatovic and the American Sarah McKenzie, who also doubles her activity on the piano with the same skill that Lakecia Benjamin, Carmen Vela or Melissa Aldana demonstrate with another metallic instrument: the saxophone.

The sax will have a special role in the concerts of Donny McCaslin, the Redux Edition of Ken Vandenmark, the Tapestry trio of Joe Lovano, Román Filiú, Shabaka Hutchings, Gustavo Díaz, the Saxos del Averno, Andreas Prittwitz and the Dean’s group. of the alto sax Paquito D’Rivera, the same one who, in 1967, came from the Iraqere group. The Havana native will once again deliver what fans expect most from him: his complete vision of Cuban musical culture, ranging from jazz to the sounds of Santería.

Paquito will close the concerts at the Fernán Gómez, an auditorium where other stars of the stature of double bassist Christian McBride will be present, who will pay tribute to his teacher Ray Brown; the trio composed of pianist Cyrus Chesnut, guitarists John Scofield, Kurt Rosenwinkel and Tomatito, who presents, in duo with Dominican pianist Michel Camilo, his new album Spain Forever Again. The arranger and composer Maria Schneider will be another star of this scene.

With his multicultural influences, the British Dave Holland arrives in Madrid accompanied by the tenor saxophonist Chris Potter and the Indian percussionist Zakir Hussain in his trio Crosscurrents, which lays the foundations of his show in the experimentation and tracing of new forms, in a style very similar to the one that the group of German trumpeter Markus Stockhausen will exhibit in his concert.

Jazzmadrid’s programming also includes ethnic pulses and blues. The first is reflected in Guillaume López’s Anda-Lutz project, a training in multiple identities offered at this festival thanks to the French Institute. Also on the program are the Malian couple Amadou & Mariam, the Cape Verdean singer Carmen Souza, the Guinean Alana Sinkey, the Tuareg musician Bombino, the duo composed of the Cameroonian bassist and singer Richard Bona and the Cuban pianist Alfredo Rodríguez, and the singer Arooj. Aftab from Pakistan.

The blues returns with one of its best transoceanic representatives: the musicologist, guitarist and singer Corey Harris and his mixture of the essences of the Delta sound with music from the great cultural treasure of the Caribbean and the Antilles.

JazzMadrid gives pride of place to national artists, with personalities such as solo pianist Moisés P. Sánchez and the trio formed by pianist Daniel Oyarzábal, harmonica player Antonio Serrano and double bassist Pablo Martín Caminero.

The festival will also host the Barba Dixie Band, a marching group that will tour the city streets at a specific time; as well as pianists Kris Davis and Lucía Rey, trumpeter Pepe Zaragoza and violinist, saxophonist and singer Elia Bastida, the latter two from the AIE’s Jazz en Ruta program.

The expressiveness of flamenco will come with saxophonist and singer Antonio Lizana; pianists Álex Conde, Chico Pérez and Lorenzo Moya; the trios Carmona, Colina & Bandolero and Chano, Colina & McGill and, more focused on the world of the copla, the duo with the tonadillera Martirio and the pianist Chano Domínguez. The lineup is completed by guitarists Juan Habichuela Nieto and Dani de Morón.

In addition, JazzMadrid is developing a section dedicated to teaching, which will again include the students of the Big Band of the Arturo Soria Conservatory; the Soler Jazz Band of San Lorenzo de El Escorial and the Creativa Grand Ensemble and the Creativa Junior Big Band, both from the School of Creative Music.

Concerts at other venues

In the official concerts, and as new this year, eight events are programmed by Madrid live in its jazz club: CMS Trío, the special edition of Baldo Martínez, Cyrille Aymée, Chema Sáiz, Tivon Bennicott Quartet, Ignasi Terraza & Kenny Washington , the tribute to Chucho Valdés brought by Javier Colina and Cucurucho Valdés and Ebi Soda.

As for Villanos del Jazz, it will give its concerts at the Pavón Theater, the National Music Auditorium, the La Riviera Hall, the Villanos Hall and the Teatros del Canal (in addition to those that take place on municipal stages) with artists such as Pat Metheny, trumpeters Avishai Cohen, Christian Scott and Erik Truffaz; the Jaco Pastorius Tribute Big Band, the Sun Ra Arkestra, Robben Ford, Álex Conde, Blue Lab Beats, Robin McKelle, Kinga Glyk, or the trio composed of Pedrito Martínez, Antonio Sánchez and Michael League, among many other proposals.

Music does not exhaust the offer of JazzMadrid: the artistic director of the festival will organize a conference-audition at the National Library, where the differences that unite and connect Western music and jazz will be analyzed.

Tickets for concerts in the official JazzMadrid program can be purchased on the website, and tickets for Villanos del Jazz are now on sale at