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Rhythmic rush: NM Jazz Festival showcases renowned and rising stars
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The 18th New Mexico Jazz Festival has a must see lineup of returning acts and newcomers.
The festival runs from Thursday, Sept. 5 to Sept. 29 at sa国际传媒官网网页入口 Civic Plaza, sa国际传媒官网网页入口 Museum of Art Amphitheater and Outpost Performance Space in sa国际传媒官网网页入口 and the Lensic Performing Arts Center and Santa Fe School of Cooking in Santa Fe. The festival opens with the Michael Anthony-Paul Gonzales Quartet at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 5, at the Outpost Performance Space, 210 Yale Blvd. SE. The quartet will perform its signature bebop, standards, Latin, blues, funk and originals.
The John Santos Sextet will follow at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 6, at the sa国际传媒官网网页入口 Museum Amphitheater, 2000 Mountain Rd. NW.
鈥淗e鈥檚 a legendary figure in the Bay Area in terms of his knowledge, his performance, his teaching of all different kinds of Latin music,鈥� said Tom Guralnick, Outpost executive director and founder. 鈥淗e鈥檚 kind of the Latin music artist in residence at the SFJAZZ Center, which is a really amazing institution in San Francisco.鈥�
Guralnick said Santos has been performing for about 50 years and his music covers a range of Afro Latin music.
鈥淗is knowledge is expansive and he鈥檚 somebody I鈥檝e wanted to bring to sa国际传媒官网网页入口 for 20 years and it finally came together,鈥� Guralnick said of Santos. 鈥淗e plays Puerto Rican music and Cuban music and music of Venezuela. It鈥檚 just really all of the music within the Afro Latin traditions. I鈥檓 really excited about it.鈥�
Ranky Tanky with special guest Lisa Fischer will perform at 7:30 pm. on Thursday, Sept. 12, at the Lensic Performing Arts Center, 211 West San Francisco Street, in Santa Fe.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e a group that definitely combines jazz with the Gullah community along the Sea Islands (and coastal plains along Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida),鈥� Guralnick explained. 鈥淕ullah (people) were slaves, ex slaves, who moved to the Georgia Sea Islands and created a language that鈥檚 derived from African dialects.鈥�
Singer Lisa Fischer will joins Ranky Tanky on stage. Fischer has performed as a backup singer for the Rolling Stones and appeared in the film 鈥�20 Feet from Stardom.鈥� She has performed at the Outpost Performance Space several times.
Rising stars, jazz singer Jazzmeia Horn and the Keyon Harrold Group, will take the Outpost stage later in September. Horn performs at 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 18 and the Keyon Harrold Group will have its concert at 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 20.
The SFJAZZ Collective is so popular it had to add a second show after its 7:30 p.m. show on Sept. 26 at Outpost sold out. The second show will be at 9:30 p.m. on the same day at Outpost. The SFJAZZ Collective is made up of younger jazz players put together as an ensemble by the SFJAZZ Center.
Carmen Bradford & the John Rangel Trio, will be part of supper club type show, at 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 21 at Dave鈥檚 Jazz Bistro at the Santa Fe School of Cooking, 125 N Guadalupe St., in Santa Fe. A special jazz dinner menu will be crafted by Chef Peter O鈥橞rien for the event.
鈥淲e partner with the Santa Fe School of Cooking and they do a meal and show like many jazz clubs but also with famous chefs,鈥� Guralnick said. 鈥淲e work with them every year.鈥�
Guralnick said the New Mexico Jazz Festival has something that speaks to everyone.
鈥淪ome of the music will be more edgy and avant-garde,鈥� he explained. 鈥淭here are a lot of people who love that. Some of it will be much more traditional and some of it will have Latin roots and some of it will have folk roots.鈥�
Another component of the festival will be 鈥淛azz Undercover,鈥� an art exhibit that features 133 jazz album covers at the Inpost Artspace located inside the Outpost. A reception for the show will be held at 3 p.m. on Sept. 8. Another offsite event will feature two jazz films Sept. 10 through Sept. 12., at the Guild Cinema, 3405 Central Ave. NE. The film 鈥淪un Ra: A Joyful Noise,鈥� will be shown at 3 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. and 鈥淪un Ra: Space is the Place鈥� will be shown at 4:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. Moviegoers can enjoy the films as a double feature or see them separately.
鈥�(The) jazz films (are about) the wonderful, crazy, amazing Sun Ra, who died a few years ago, but the band still exists, Sun Ra Arkestra,鈥� Guralnick said. 鈥淗e proclaimed that he was from Saturn. He was a real character.鈥�
