Wayne Shorter leads Panama Jazz Festival lineup

Wayne Shorter Quartet, with Wayne Shorter, Danilo Perez, Brian Blade & John Patitucci

Wayne Shorter leads 2009 Panama Jazz Festival lineup --- so far
by Eric Jackson

At an earlier press conference, we learned that three-quarters of the Wayne Shorter Quartet --- Danilo Pérez, Brian Blade and John Patitucci --- would be coming to the 2009 Panama Jazz Festival, which will take place January 12 - 17.

Now we know that the whole band will be there, as Wayne Shorter will be playing there as well. The exact lineup of who plays with whom will no doubt include some surprises, but we can surely expect the Wayne Shorter Quartet, which has won multiple Grammies, to take the stage together at some point in the festival.

We also now know that Luba Mason, a singer and product of Chicago's Slovak community, will be at the jazz festival. Lately she's been exploring the Brazilian jazz idiom, and maybe we'll hear some of that. Even more likely, given that she's married to Tourism Minister Rubén Blades, is that he'll take to the stage with her during the festival.

The Eddie Gomez Quartet --- Forever

This year's clinics will also go beyond jazz, into Kuna and Panamanian folk idioms, classical music with Panamanian brothers violist Luis Casal and cellist Isaac Casal. There will also be dance clinics and seminars on recording, the business of music and music journalism.

As in previous years, several institutions of higher musical learning will be conducting auditions. We may see some of the best kids from that process on stage, but meanwhile the Panama Jazz Festival is getting so famous that audition slots are filling up ever earlier. (So you're a well connected stage parent who thinks that your entreaties backstage can get your kid into a prestigious program? Fat chance! Your surname counts for infinitely less than your son's or daughter's talent and how well it has been developed so far.)

It's the usual suspects who are holding the auditions, the New England Conservatory, the Berklee College of Music and the Conservatorio de Musica de Puerto Rico. Latin American students who wish to participate in the auditions should send their website addresses or MySpace or two mp3s of their work to danilo@panamajazzfestival.com. (Unless you get selected for an audition, you probably won't get a reply to your application. They have too many students applying for that.)

The festival is an enormous undertaking that could not happen without a lot of volunteer help, but the sorts of volunteers who are needed must have specific skills. (Last year, for example, The Panama News took note of one of these, the ability to translate, using musical terminology, from English to fluent Spanish.) If you want to volunteer to work at the 2009 Panama Jazz Festival, you must apply by December 1 and you will be tested for skills that are needed. The link for volunteers to apply that we found on The Panama Jazz Festival website wasn't working, so one will have to go down to the office in the Old Conservatorio Building, on Casco Viejo's Plaza Herrera, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays or between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Saturdays.

Also in this section:
Oral history: Voices From Our Americas
Photography, José Ponce's urban scenes
Serial slashings at the Ancon Theater
Accept Sparky into your life as your own personal Wonder Dog NOW!
Cool Internet sites
Stained glass at the Cathedral in Casco Viejo
Painting: Baring My Soul
Painting: Icthyus
Panama Jazz Festival

Make the Executive Hotel your headquarters in Panama City --- http://ww.executivehotel-panama.com
Find the boat of your dreams through Evermarine --- http://www.evermarine.com

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