The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Jump-starting the jazz
Litchfield festival to open early
GOSHEN — The Litchfield Jazz Festival marks it 23rd year this summer. For the first time, all the jazz Litchfield has become known for can be heard a bit sooner.
After last summer’s move by Newport Jazz Festival to the first weekend of August — Litchfield’s consistent date for almost two decades — “The Litchfield,” as its fans call it, moved to July 28-29 at the Goshen Fairgrounds.
Vita Muir, the festival’s founder and artistic director, said she shifted the dates because so many fans expressed the desire to attend both.
“With two venues so close to one another, creating competition benefits no one, least of all jazz lovers. And now it’s possible for artists once again to appear at both festivals,” she said.
Muir cites Grammynominated Jane Bunnett & Maqueque. Bunnett, who will make her fourth appearance at Litchfield, and appear the next weekend at Newport, has worked tirelessly for three decades to promote Cuban jazz worldwide.
After coming face to face with Cuban jazz in 1982 when she and her husband, trumpeter Larry Cramer, responded to an ad for an inexpensive vacation to Santiago de Cuba. They ran into a
“Over the years, I’ve developed relationships with some of Cuba’s legendary musicians.”
Jane Bunnett, Grammy-nominated musician who will perform at the Litchfield Jazz Festival this month
local band who was performing that night, attended and sat in. That changed the course of the Canadian-born soprano saxophonist life.
Bunnett and her earliest Cuban consortium, The Spirits of Havana, appeared at Litchfield in 2000. The group included artists who have all become top players in the Cuban jazz galaxy in the U.S. and abroad.
“Over the years, I’ve developed relationships with some of Cuba’s legendary musicians. I’ve had a great opportunity to learn the music in the streets and in the homes of these celebrated talents … and that’s what has fueled my vision,” Bunnett said.
Realizing opportunities for women in jazz in the southern hemisphere were nearly nonexistent, she set a new course and founded the all-women Cuban ensemble, Maqueque four years ago.
This sextet features, along with Bunnett, some of the finest female musicians in Cuba. They include drummer Yissy García, percussionist Dayme, Yusa on tres guitar and fretless bass, pianist Danae, and Magdelys on batás and congas.
Bunnett is an educator and social activist who was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada,
the highest civilian honor given in that country and has honorary doctorate by Queen's University at Kingston, Ontario.
The strong friendship between Muir and Bunnett has led to the former serving as the American sponsor for several tours and becoming a booster for her group.
Pianist/composer Yoko Miwa is quickly making a name for herself.
She is making her Litchfield Jazz debut and opening the festival on July 28.
For information, call 860-361-6285. For tickets, visit litchfieldjazzfest.org