On the 6th September 2015 what is expected to be the biggest gathering of Italian jazz artists in history will take place in the city of L’Aquila to support the reconstruction of the city that was almost totally destroyed by a huge earthquake in 2009.
The call for artists to join the event started from Dario Franceschini, Italian Minister of Culture, Massimo Cialente, Mayor of the city of L’Aquila, and Paolo Fresu, world-renowned trumpet player and Artistic Director, and hundreds of musicians have already shown their interest in the event organised to support and speed up the reconstruction of the historical city centre that, after 6 years from the earthquake, is still largely ruined and unusable.
The 6th September will be a musical marathon beginning around 10 in the morning and continuing until the night, with events happening in 12 locations all around the city centre. A musical path will start from the 16th century fortress and then spread out in the streets, squares, churches, cloisters, and other symbolic location of the city where artists will perform. The culminating event will take place in the cathedral square where some of the most famous Italian jazz musicians will perform in front of the public and the media in order to amplify and reinforce the message of the event.
Paolo Fresu, Enrico Rava, Danilo Rea, Enrico Pieranunzi, Franco D’Andrea, Antonello Salis, Gianni Coscia, Gianluigi Trovesi, Gianluca Petrella, Roberto Gatto, Rosario Giuliani, Rita Marcotulli, Paolo Damiani, Javier Girotto, Pietro Tonolo, Cristina Zavalloni, Roberto Ottaviano, just to mention a few, have confirmed their presence for the day. More names will be announced in the next weeks, with an expected total of 550/600 musicians, that will perform in more than 100 shows, from marching bands to small ensembles, making it the biggest single gathering of Italian jazz musicians of all times. All artists will perform without receiving a fee but only the coverage of their travel and hospitality expenses.
The event marks an important step for jazz in Italy, both in terms of its artistic value, which has been recognised now for many years all around the world, and for its ability to work as a network of different realities, deeply rooted in their territories, that are able to converge on a common project. The coordination of the event is done by I-Jazz (the network of Italian jazz Festivals and Projects), with the support of Puglia Sounds, together with the Association of Italian Jazz Musicians (Midj) and Casa del Jazz from Rome, the first two and the last one being members of the Europe Jazz Network.
More information: http://www.i-jazz.it/
