Let us recall that the festival will be held in Lviv on June 12 through 15, involving three venues and over 100 musicians from 13 countries: the US, the UK, Brazil, Germany, Austria, Hungary, France, Israel, India, Denmark, Ukraine, Georgia, and Russia, as its creative curator and jazz expert Oleksii Kohan has told The Day.
For the first time ever, a Ukrainian audience will listen to Larry Carlton, guitarist, winner of four Grammy Awards; Charles Lloyd, famous American jazz musician, saxophonist and flutist; and Eliane Elias, Brazilian jazz singer, pianist, and composer. Dee Dee Bridgewater, American jazz singer, one of the greatest jazz vocalists of her generation, winner of two Grammy Awards and a Tony Award, will also present her program at the Alfa Jazz Fest-2014.
The organizers of the festival said that overall, the music program of the festival main venue, the Eddie Rosner Stage in Bohdan Khmelnytsky Park, was perfectly balanced regarding styles and artists represented. Best representatives of the modern jazz mainstream (Dee Dee Bridgewater), post-bop (Charles Lloyd), Brazilian jazz (Eliane Elias) and jazz-fusion (Larry Carlton, Miles Electric Band) will perform once every three days. Singers will perform on the main stage every day, while real high-quality blues by Lucky Peterson will complete the concert program.
The urban scenes, which will be located, by the way of reminder, in Rynok Square and near the Potocki Palace, will also see world-renowned musicians, such as Trilok Gurtu (India), Eddie Allen (US), Jean-Marie Ecay (France), Christof Lauer (Germany), and Ian Bellamy (UK). The scene at the Potocki Palace will traditionally channel chamber music, but one in Rynok Square will feature more of drivey one.
It is important that this year, Ukrainian musicians will not only perform at the festival, but will also be able to present their works in joint projects with foreign musicians. New York-based Odesite Vadym Neselovsky will perform as member of his American trio, while Andrii Prozorov and Ilia Alabuzhev will act as members of Austrian quartet DACH. This approach provides a major boost to the promotion and integration of Ukrainian jazz musicians in the world jazz industry.
“Our country is in a very difficult situation now, with a great trouble happening in eastern Ukraine. We are very grateful that the most famous jazz performers have agreed to come to the city and support us in this very difficult time,” Lviv mayor Andrii Sadovy said. “We expect an unusually large number of guests to come this year, because the Alfa Jazz Fest, a Lviv festival, is becoming one of the top jazz events in today’s Europe.”
