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Scenes from the Panama Jazz Festival, the first night
Scenes from the Panama Jazz Festival, the second night
Scenes from the Panama Jazz Festival, the third night
Scenes from the Panama Jazz Festival, the free concert

The new San Carlos arts center starts with a little party
Boquete Jazz Festival coming up
Gallery & Museum Guide

Milagros Blades, a child prodigy on the tambor, watches the New England Conservatory and Berklee College of Music jazz bands from just offstage

Scenes from this year's jazz festival's first night

photos and captions by Eric Jackson

electronic manipulations of some photos by Eric Jackson

This year's show was dedicated to the late Barbara Wilson

Leading off were Reggie Boyce and the Jazz Effects,

the band with whom Barbara Wilson used to sing

The highlight of the first night's show --- in this reporter's opinion --- was a series of performances by some extremely talented youngsters. Here we have 12-year-old pianist Tony Madruga, about whom Danilo Pérez complained "he embarrasses me" by being so good in comparison. Percussionist Milagros Blades and 17-year-old saxophonist Jahaziel Arrocha also put on solo performances, and after that the three of them played together with Pérez. Anyone who just heard Arrocha, Blades and Madruga without seeing them or having them pointed out as kids would have had a very hard time distinguishing their work from that of the world's very best adult professionals.

Mexican singer Mili Bermejo sang a jazzy version of the

Rubén Blades hit "Pablo Pueblo," accompanied by Pérez

The night ended with a combined jam session by the New England Conservatory's and Berklee College of Music's jazz bands, led by Panamanian saxophonist Carlos Ubarte and incorporating some of Panama's musical traditions into the mix

Scenes from the Panama Jazz Festival, the first night
Scenes from the Panama Jazz Festival, the second night
Scenes from the Panama Jazz Festival, the third night
Scenes from the Panama Jazz Festival, the free concert