How time flies – I remember going to a few of Playa del Carmen’s earlier jazz festivals, and it’s still in the back of my mind that this is something new; but this year’s festival, running from Thurs, Nov. 22 to Sat. Nov. 24, is the tenth annual Riviera Maya International Festival! This festival is really something else:
- It brings together both big names in international jazz, as well as local favorites
- It includes a variety of styles from traditional jazz to Latin jazz to some more rock-style groups.
- It’s right on the sand of the beach, at the north end of downtown (Mamitas Beach Club)
- It’s in late November, when the hot days are balanced by cooler evenings and a refreshing breeze from the sea – the ideal climate to enjoy great music while relaxing on the sand under the stars!
Events like this add a real variety to what Mexico retirement in Playa del Carmen is like! Let’s take a sneak-peak at line up (with partial write-ups from the official site):
Joe D’Etienne’s Big Band (Nov. 22)
Joe D’Etienne’s Big Band was formed in September 2004 with the main objective of presenting jazz concerts of the highest quality. With emphasis on the style of the traditional jazz, the band has given numerous presentations at various forums in Mexico including the cities of Mexico, Pachuca, Irapuato, Torreon, Chihuahua and Acapulco, among others. …
Poncho Sanchez (Nov. 23)
For more tan three decades as both a leader and a sideman, conguero Poncho Sanchez has stirred up a fiery stew of straight-ahead jazz, gritty soul music and infectious melodies and rhythms from a variety of Latin American and South American sources. Among the more prominent figures that inform his music are two of the primary architects of Latin jazz: conga drummer and composer Chano Pozo and trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie. …
Wayne Shorter (Nov. 24)
Born in Newark, New Jersey, he had his first great jazz epiphany as a teenager: “I remember seeing Lester Young when I was 15 years old. It was a Norman Granz jazz at the Philarmonic show in Newark and he was late coming to the theater and when he finally did show up, he had the pork pie hat and everything. So then we were trying to figure out how to get in to the theater from the fire escape around the back. …
See the full line-up, read complete write-ups and listen to complete recordings of sample tunes from each artist on the Riviera Maya Jazz Festival web page. While you listen to the recordings, just close your eyes, imagine you’re on a warm, star-lit beach …
Or better yet, start making plans now to come and enjoy this festival in person! I’ll be there, that’s for sure!
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