The first weekend of autumn has reignited the music season for great international jazz as well: and already building on the momentum of Thursday and Friday's inaugural concerts, featuring guests Gavino Murgia and the Mediterranean Ensemble, the Il Jazzino cultural association is now offering a double date on Saturday and Sunday with Mark Whitfield Jr. and Alexander Claffy, accompanied by David Sikoski and Seamus Blake in a quartet. Scheduled at the Teatro Massimo, the event is part of The Jazz Club Network's concert series, now in its eighth year, organized in collaboration with Cedac.
The duo of Whitfield Jr. and Claffy will perform for the first time ever in Europe, bringing the long tradition of excellence of New York jazz to the fore. Whitfield Jr., a master and experimental drummer and a rising star on the double bass, unleashes their energy as a duo that has already impressed the harshest American jazz critics, thanks in part to the vast repertoire of collaborations and solo works they've released over the past five years. Completing the quartet, however, will not be extras, but two contemporary jazz icons: Canadian saxophonist Seamus Blake (who previously played with the Mingus Big Band and toured for Roger Waters) and Grammy-nominated pianist David Kikoski. The two artists' decades of experience will enrich Whitfield Jr. and Claffy's performance, in a musical dialogue centered on improvisation and the dynamic interaction between the quartet members, offering the Cagliari audience an avant-garde yet celebratory experience, currently exclusive to the continent.
The Jazz Club Network season will continue until December 13th, stopping at the Massimo, the Jazzino at Via Carloforte 74, and the Vecchio Mulino in Sassari. The latter location will be central to the November 27th event, with the national premiere of "Bebo Ferra - Ferra's Legacy Feat," a tribute to the musical genius of the island's Massimo Ferra and produced by the Centro di Produzione Musicale MedinSard, which will also be performed the following day at the Massimo in Cagliari. Other names in the new season include Italian drummer Roberto Gatto, world-renowned pianist Michael Wolff, eclectic trumpeter and singer Jumaane Smith, the Artie Zaitz Quartet from London and their compatriots Tim Garland and Gwilym Simcock, and concluding with the Marco Valeri Quartet and Luigi Bonafede's Tynerly Trio.
