BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 4. The grand opening of the International Baku Summer Jazz Days has been held at the Heydar Aliyev Center, Trend reports.
The Baku Summer Jazz Days are being held on July 3-7. The event was initiated and organized by Premier LTD, this year it will be held with the support of the Heydar Aliyev Center.
At the opening of the evening, a jazz connoisseur, radio and TV presenter, Honored Worker of Culture Rahib Azeri noted that holding Baku Summer Jazz Days has become a good tradition.
He stressed that the Baku Summer Jazz Days are being held for the fifth time. Concert programs within the framework of the event are organized both in halls and in open areas. Some concerts in Baku, rightfully considered a city of jazz, take place in open areas, which makes them accessible to a wider audience.
This serves the main purpose of Baku Summer Jazz Days - wider promotion of jazz music.
“At the opening of the Baku Summer Jazz Days, two concerts will be presented to the audience. Recently, there has been a tendency to combine classical music and jazz," Azeri said. "Most jazz musicians are people who have received a classical musical education. They all emphasize that in order to understand, love and promote jazz, one must start with the classics. Taking this into account, we are presenting an extremely interesting concert program at the opening."
Then the presenter invited Turkish musicians to the stage - the famous guitarist Onder Focan, jazz singer Meltem Ege, as well as Senov Ulker (trumpet, flugelhorn), Bulut Gulen (trombone), Ozan Musluoglu (double bass) and Serkan Alagok (drums). Turkish musicians performed accompanied by the Baku Chamber Orchestra.
The joint performance of Turkish jazz musicians and musicians of the Baku Chamber Orchestra delighted the audience from the first chords. The audience listened to Turkish jazz with great interest. The musicians warmly communicated with the guests of the concert. Before the performance of musical compositions, the singer Meltem Ege told the story of the creation of works, shared memories. Many of the compositions created by Onder Focan have their own very special and personal history.
The music performed by Turkish musicians is very beautiful. The audience expressed their delight with thunderous applause, and the orchestra, which performed in a different genre, demonstrated that classical and jazz are compatible with each other directions.
After the performance, Ege told the media that being in Baku and performing at the Heydar Aliyev Center is a special pleasure.
"Being a part of the Baku Summer Jazz Days is a great honor. We are happy to have the opportunity to perform in the capital of Azerbaijan. Our concert was wonderful. It was very pleasant to perform accompanied by the Baku Chamber Orchestra, we enjoyed it a lot," she said.
Guitarist Focan added that this is his third concert in Baku.
"It's gratifying to be back here. Azerbaijan is a country where music is loved, and listened to. It's exciting to perform in front of a experienced audience. I hope the Baku listener liked our music. I express my deep gratitude to all the organizers of the Baku Summer Jazz Days for hosting this event," Focan said.
In the second part of the program, the famous pianist, laureate of international competitions, Honored Artist of Azerbaijan Elchin Shirinov performed with Israeli colleagues - Amir Bresler (drums), Oren Hardy (double bass) and Gilad Hekselman (guitar).
Shirinov, who has been participating in the famous Israeli "Avishai Cohen Trio " for four years, performed with concert programs in many countries of the world.
The performance of the musicians didn't leave anyone indifferent. The listeners enjoyed the amazing music and the virtuoso skill of the musicians. The audience enjoyed not only listening to the musicians, but also watching their play, facial expressions and movements. The musicians led by Shirinov gave the guests of the concert a great mood, vivid emotions and great jazz music.
According to Shirinov, he and his Israeli colleagues greatly enjoyed the performance at the Heydar Aliyev Center.
"I am happy to take part in the Baku Summer Jazz Days. Holding this event contributes to the development of young musicians. In the program, we performed Azerbaijani compositions, my author's compositions. I hope the audience liked everything," he noted.
The opening program of the Baku Summer Jazz Days is a great start, and in the following days the event will delight jazz fans with interesting, vibrant performances by musicians.
A real gift for jazz lovers will be the performance in Baku of the famous jazz pianist, Grammy nominee Alfredo Rodriguez from the team of Quincy Jones, the luminary of this genre, as part of a world tour with a trio. Their performance will take place on the second day of the festival - July 4th. The concert will take place in the Auditorium of the Heydar Aliyev Center.
Georgia will be represented by pianist, arranger, professor of the Berklee College of Music Georgiy Mikadze one of these Jazz Days in Baku. On July 5, together with musicians from France - Francois Moutin and Rafael Pannier - he will perform jazz improvisations of famous Georgian composers in the park of the Heydar Aliyev Center.
The jazz holiday will be finalized by the performance of the jazz orchestra named after Oleg Lundstrem on July 7. Having performed for the first time in Baku in 2019, the orchestra's team has since won the sympathy of our listeners, and will delight them with their work this time as well. The concert will take place in the park of the Heydar Aliyev Center.
Entrance to concerts in the park area is free.
Tickets for concerts in the auditorium can be purchased at the ticket offices of the city and on the iTicket.az website.
