Communiqué
International Jazz Day from Cuba | Friday, April 27 at 10
< < Back toA one-hour music special premiering April 27, 2018
More than 50 world-renowned artists come together for an extraordinary INTERNATIONAL JAZZ DAY all-star global concert, recorded at the Gran Teatro de La Habana
in Havana, Cuba on April 30, 2017. The event marked International Jazz Day, the one day each year that jazz is celebrated worldwide, bringing together people of all ages, backgrounds, and nationalities in more than 190 countries on all seven continents. The resulting new one-hour music special, INTERNATIONAL JAZZ DAY FROM CUBA, will air on WOUB April 27, 2018 at 10.
This all-star global concert highlights one of the largest-ever assemblages of Cuban and American artists on a single stage, and its many historic moments include a first-time collaboration between bassist Esperanza Spalding and Cuban music legend Bobby Carcassés, and stellar emceeing from host Will Smith and music legend Quincy Jones.
The concert spans virtually every era and corner of recorded jazz, from a swinging rendition of Gershwin’s “There’s a Boat Dat’s Leavin’ Soon for New York” by vocalist Kurt Elling and Chilean sax phenom Melissa Aldana, to a haunting take on “Bésame Mucho” from Korean vocalist Youn Sun Nah and violinist Regina Carter, to an explosive original performance by
more than a dozen of Cuba’s top veteran jazz musicians. Herbie Hancock joins Marcus Miller, Kenny Garrett, Ambrose Akinmusire and Antonio Sánchez to perform his composition “4 AM.” Cameroonian bassist/vocalist Richard Bona and Cuban pianist Roberto Fonseca get the house moving with “Bilongo,” accompanied by Japanese trumpeter Takuya Kuroda. And in true International Jazz Day tradition, the evening concludes with an ensemble performance of John Lennon’s iconic song “Imagine,” featuring an unmistakably Cuban inflection.
For more than a century, the truly American music of jazz has promoted peace, diversity, individual expression, dialogue among cultures, and respect for human dignity. International Jazz Day highlights the unifying attributes of this music through live performances, education programs, and special events worldwide. International Jazz Day was first celebrated in 2012, and is recognized on the official calendars of
both the United Nations and the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Each year on April 30, universities, libraries, schools, arts centers, organizations of all disciplines, artists, and jazz enthusiasts all over the world honor this revered musical art form that for more than a century has brought together people of different cultures, religions, and nationalities.
INTERNATIONAL JAZZ DAY FROM CUBA is a co-production of WTTW Chicago and the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz.