Alejandro Falcón is on the Lineup of Jazz Plaza Festival 2023
Renowned Cuban pianist, composer, and arranger Alejandro Falcón is once again on the lineup of the 38th edition of the International Jazz Plaza Festival to be held in Havana’s main venues from January 22 to 29.
The versatility of this remarkable instrumentalist has allowed him to share the stage with renowned jazz performers. Also, he ventures into different musical formats, in composition, and even accompanies other soloists, as he recently did with copla singer Pilar Boyero at the National Theater of Cuba and the Sauto Theater of Matanzas.
Matanzas-born maestro Alejandro Falcón commented to Radio Enciclopedia that Los Muñequitos de Matanzas will not miss the event. Seventy years later, the Jazz Plaza will pay tribute to this famous Cuban music ensemble. The concert is scheduled for the first day of the festival, Sunday, January 22, at 6:00 p.m., at the Avellaneda Hall of the National Theater of Cuba.
This is not the first time Falcón pays tribute to these glories of national music; he already did it with a concert entitled Jazz con Guaguancó, recorded on CD-DVD and co-produced by EGREM, BisMusic, and the Centro Nacional de Música Popular, held at Jazz Plaza 2021.
The talented performer will also participate as a teacher in a special concert dedicated to art education in Cuba, entitled Moisés Simons se revela! on Tuesday, January 24, at 7:00 p.m., at the Tito Junco Hall of the Bertolt Brecht Cultural Center. Leading this show will be another of Radio Enciclopedia’s great friends, maestro Janio Abreu Mocarte, who heads the Popular Music Department of the National Music School. Students will be joined by their teachers: Roldán Carballoso, Josué Borges, Enrique Plá, Tommy Lowry, and Coqui Calzadilla, among others.
Alejandro Falcón’s next performance will be on Thursday, January 26, at 9:00 p.m., at the original venue of Jazz Plaza, the Casa de la Cultura de Plaza, in Vedado, where RasinMwen Project from Haiti, Simon Denizart Quartet from France, and Cuban ensembles Interactivo and La Tabla will be on stage.
Also, he will participate in a Jazz Composition Residency to be offered by the relevant American saxophonist and composer Ted Nash, from January 24 to 28, at the National Museum of Fine Arts, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
This composition workshop, as part of the Jazz X Art project, will be inspired by the work of the great Cuban maestro Wifredo Lam, treasured at the Havana institution in honor of the 120th anniversary of his birth.
For Ted Nash, a member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and founder of the Jazz Composers Collective, this project will allow exploring the collaboration of remarkable forms of music and inspire composers to discover new areas of their creation, as reflected in the Facebook profile of the National Center for Popular Music.
«We are happy and grateful to participate in the next edition of the International Jazz Plaza Festival 2023, sharing with American saxophonist and composer Ted Nash, and my band Alejandro Falcón y Cubadentro, including drummer Ruy López-Nussa and bassist Arnulfo Guerra,» said Alejandro Falcón.
Students from the Moisés Simons Cuban Music Department of the Cuban National Music School, directed by Janio Abreu Morcate, will also perform.
It will be a unique occasion as this is the first time this important meeting will take place, and close with a performance at the Patio of the Cuban Art Building of the National Museum of Fine Arts, under the name of Jazz X Art, on Saturday 28th at 5:00 p.m.
Translated by Luis E. Amador Dominguez
