PANAMA JAZZ FESTIVAL,   A CULTURAL WINDOW TO THE WORLD

By: Lilia Korsi Rojas Liliakorsi@thinkpanama.com

This 2009 is the 6th Panama Jazz Festival, created by the Panamanian pianist Danilo Perez, who founded the festival in 2003 and whose Danilo Perez Foundation coordinates its educational component, anticipates more than 16,000 attendees.

"The Panama Jazz Festival has been a magical journey to a dream we ve had for years in Panama," says Perez. "We, as a country, see the entire world pass through the Panama Canal every day, and we are honored to be the bridge of the Americas.

But today, we are proud to say that every year-for the past six years-the Panama Jazz Festival has been the national event where the world does not pass by, but makes a stop in our wonderful land. The world s best jazz artists, as well as students and volunteers from all over the globe, unite in Panama with one goal in mind: to celebrate the world s diversity through jazz."

This 2009 festival will be dedicated to the late bassist, composer, and arranger Clarence Martin Sr., whose contributions to Panamanian jazz date from the 1940s and have influenced several generations of musicians from many genres such as jazz, classical, and Caribbean music.

The festival will open with a night Concert at the Teatro Nacional by a flamenco jazz group from Spain, sponsored by the Spanish Embassy. Other artists scheduled to perform at the festival are the Puerto Rican saxophonist Marco Pignataro and his quintet, featuring Eddie Gomez and Billy Drummond; American singer Luba Mason, whose quintet includes flute master Hubert Laws, bassist Jimmy Haslip, and vocalist Ruben Blades Mason s husband, and Panama s Minister of Culture ; and the young Panamanian saxophonist Jahaziel Arrocha, who won a Berklee College of Music scholarship at the 4th annual Panama Jazz Festival and currently attends Berklee as a Presidential Scholar.

The keynote for the 2009 festival is "expansion," notes Perez, as the concert lineup expands from 3 to 5 days a week and the scope of the master classes expands to include a new private lesson component. "We re also reaching out even more than before to other disciplines, such as art and dance, and we re opening a classical music department," says Perez. "We re expanding our scholarship opportunities to Panamanian schools in need by giving admission to the festival to students who demonstrate academic progress. And we are expanding our children s program to include even more communities in need of outreach programs."

For more information about the concerts and invited artists, please visit our Calendar of events.