Red Sea Jazz Festival
Encyclopedia
The Red Sea Jazz Festival is a jazz
festival
held annually in Eilat, Israel
.
The Red Sea Jazz Festival was first held in 1987. It is a four-day long event featuring 9-10 concerts per evening, 6 workshops with guest artists and nightly jam sessions
. All performances are held outdoors at the Eilat port. The workshops take place at a nearby hotel.
The festival offers a combination of performances by international jazz artists and local talent. It also provides a venue for collaborative efforts, with special productions exclusive to the festival. Some of these special productions have included Randy Brecker
& Mark Egan
, The Jazz Beatles, Miroslav Vitous
& John Abercrombie
and Charlie Haden
& John Scofield
.
The festival draws audiences of 70,000, with an average of 2,500 people per concert. It is run as a non-profit organization and enjoys the support of the Municipality of Eilat, the Ministries of Culture and Tourism, the Eilat Hotel Association and various business sponsors.
In 2008, Israeli jazz bassist Avishai Cohen was named artistic director, replacing Dan Gottfried
, who initiated the festival and served as artistic director for 22 years.During his tenure Gottfried has showcased over 1500 world famous Jazz artists and established the reputation of the festival as one of the leading Jazz events worldwide.Under Cohen's direction in 2009, the festival showcased young talent and original compositions along with world renowned jazz artists.
The festival is held in the last week of August.
Israeli jazz acts included:
Israeli acts included:
Israeli acts included Yael Deckelbaum
, Yoni Rechter
and Zohar Fresko, among others.
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
festival
Music festival
A music festival is a festival oriented towards music that is sometimes presented with a theme such as musical genre, nationality or locality of musicians, or holiday. They are commonly held outdoors, and are often inclusive of other attractions such as food and merchandise vending machines,...
held annually in Eilat, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
.
The Red Sea Jazz Festival was first held in 1987. It is a four-day long event featuring 9-10 concerts per evening, 6 workshops with guest artists and nightly jam sessions
Jam Sessions
Jam Sessions is a guitar simulation software title and music game for the Nintendo DS based on the Japan-only title Sing & Play DS Guitar M-06 originally developed by Plato. It was brought to North America and Europe, courtesy of Ubisoft...
. All performances are held outdoors at the Eilat port. The workshops take place at a nearby hotel.
The festival offers a combination of performances by international jazz artists and local talent. It also provides a venue for collaborative efforts, with special productions exclusive to the festival. Some of these special productions have included Randy Brecker
Randy Brecker
Randal "Randy" Brecker is an American trumpeter and flugelhornist. He is a highly sought after performer in the genres of jazz, rock, and R&B, and has performed or recorded with Stanley Turrentine, Billy Cobham, Bruce Springsteen, Lou Reed, Sandip Burman, Charles Mingus, Blood, Sweat & Tears,...
& Mark Egan
Mark Egan
Mark Egan is an American jazz bass guitarist and trumpeter, arguably best known for his membership in the Pat Metheny Group from 1977 to 1980, and the Gil Evans Orchestra...
, The Jazz Beatles, Miroslav Vitous
Miroslav Vitouš
Miroslav Ladislav Vitouš , is a Czech jazz bassist.-Biography:Born in Prague, he began the violin at age six, and started playing the piano at age ten, and bass at fourteen. As a young man in Europe, Vitouš was a competitive swimmer. One of his early music groups was the Junior Trio with his...
& John Abercrombie
John Abercrombie (guitarist)
John Abercrombie is an American jazz guitarist, whose work often explores jazz fusion and post bop. Abercrombie has played with Billy Cobham, Jack DeJohnette, Michael Brecker and Randy Brecker...
and Charlie Haden
Charlie Haden
Charles Edward Haden is an American jazz musician. He is a double bassist, probably best known for his long association with saxophonist Ornette Coleman...
& John Scofield
John Scofield
John Scofield , often referred to as "Sco," is an American jazz guitarist and composer, who has played and collaborated with Miles Davis, Dave Liebman, Joe Henderson, Charles Mingus, Joey Defrancesco, Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny, Bill Frisell, Pat Martino, Mavis Staples, Phil Lesh, Billy Cobham,...
.
The festival draws audiences of 70,000, with an average of 2,500 people per concert. It is run as a non-profit organization and enjoys the support of the Municipality of Eilat, the Ministries of Culture and Tourism, the Eilat Hotel Association and various business sponsors.
In 2008, Israeli jazz bassist Avishai Cohen was named artistic director, replacing Dan Gottfried
Dan Gottfried
Dan Gottfried is an Israeli jazz pianist and music educator. In 1987, he founded the Red Sea Jazz Festival, which he directed until his retirement in 2008.He is president of the Israel Musicians Union.-Biography:...
, who initiated the festival and served as artistic director for 22 years.During his tenure Gottfried has showcased over 1500 world famous Jazz artists and established the reputation of the festival as one of the leading Jazz events worldwide.Under Cohen's direction in 2009, the festival showcased young talent and original compositions along with world renowned jazz artists.
The festival is held in the last week of August.
2006
- Mory KanteMory KantéMory Kanté is a vocalist and player of the kora harp. He was born into one of Guinea's best known families of griot musicians...
- Gonzalo RubalcabaGonzalo RubalcabaGonzalo Rubalcaba is a Grammy Award-winning Cuban jazz pianist and composer.Gonzalo Julio Gonzalez Fonseca was born in Havana, Cuba, May 27, 1963, into a musical family rich in the traditions of the country’s artistic past...
- Suthukazi Arosi
- Latin Groove Orquestra
- The Mingus Dynasty
- Rick MargitzaRick MargitzaRick Margitza is an American jazz tenor saxophonist.Margitza began playing violin at age four; his grandfather was a cellist and his father played violin with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Following this he played piano and oboe, and settled on tenor sax while in Fordson high school...
- Franck Amsalem
2007
- Tomasz StankoTomasz StankoTomasz Stańko is a Polish trumpeter, composer and improviser. Often recording for ECM, Stańko is strongly associated with free jazz and the avant-garde....
- Chris PotterChris Potter (jazz saxophonist)Chris Potter is an American jazz saxophonist, composer, and multi-instrumentalist.-Biography:Born in Chicago, Illinois, Potter spent most of his childhood in Columbia, South Carolina where his mother taught psychology at the University of South Carolina...
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- Steps AheadSteps AheadSteps Ahead is a jazz fusion group and the brainchild of vibraphonist Mike Mainieri. According to the liner notes of the group's 1983 debut album , entitled Steps Ahead, "Steps began as a part-time venture in 1979 at Seventh Avenue South, a New York City nightclub." The group began releasing...
- Conrad HerwigConrad HerwigConrad Herwig is a jazz trombonist from New York City in the United States. He has recorded 20 albums as a leader.-Biography:He began his career in Clark Terry's band in the early 1980s and has been a featured member in the Joe Henderson Sextet, Tom Harrell’s Septet and Big Band, and the Joe...
- Joey DeFrancescoJoey DeFrancescoJoey DeFrancesco is an American jazz organist, trumpeter, and vocalist. Down Beat's Critics and Readers Poll selected him as the top jazz organist every year since 2003.DeFrancesco was born in Springfield, Pennsylvania...
2008
- Randy BreckerRandy BreckerRandal "Randy" Brecker is an American trumpeter and flugelhornist. He is a highly sought after performer in the genres of jazz, rock, and R&B, and has performed or recorded with Stanley Turrentine, Billy Cobham, Bruce Springsteen, Lou Reed, Sandip Burman, Charles Mingus, Blood, Sweat & Tears,...
- Bill EvansBill Evans (saxophonist)Bill Evans is an American jazz saxophonist. His father was a classical piano prodigy and until junior high school Evans studied classical clarinet. Early in his studies he was able to hear such artists as Sonny Stitt and Stan Getz live at the Jazz Showcase in Chicago...
- Kurt EllingKurt EllingKurt Elling is an American jazz vocalist, composer, lyricist and vocalese performer. Born in Chicago, Illinois, and raised in Rockford, Elling first became interested in music through his father, who was Kapellmeister at a Lutheran church...
- Carla BleyCarla BleyCarla Bley, née Borg, is an American jazz composer, pianist, organist and band leader. An important figure in the Free Jazz movement of the 1960s, she is perhaps best known for her jazz opera Escalator Over The Hill , as well as a book of compositions that have been performed by many other...
- Mike SternMike SternMike Stern is an American jazz guitarist. After playing for a few years with Blood, Sweat & Tears, he landed a gig with Billy Cobham and then broke through with Miles Davis' comeback band from 1981 to 1983, and again in 1985. Since then, he launched a solo career, releasing more than a dozen albums...
- Richard BonaRichard BonaRichard Bona is a jazz bassist and musician. His real African name, as he said live in Montreal in a show with Bobby McFerrin, is Bona Pinder Yayumayalolo...
- Ben RileyBen RileyBen Riley is an American hard bop drummer known for his work with Thelonious Monk, as well as Alice Coltrane, Stan Getz, Woody Herman, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Ahmad Jamal, Kenny Barron, and as member of the group Sphere...
- Oregon
- Terry Lyne Carrington
- John FedchockJohn FedchockJohn Fedchock is an American jazz trombonist, bandleader, and arranger.Fedchock studied at Ohio State University and the Eastman School of Music. He worked for several years in the Woody Herman Orchestra in the 1980s, and was particularly noted for his arrangements during this time...
- Omar SosaOmar SosaOmar Sosa is a composer, bandleader, and jazz pianist.-Biography:Sosa began studying marimba at age eight, then switched to piano at the Escuela Nacional de Musica in Havana, where he studied jazz. Sosa moved to Quito, Ecuador, in 1993, then San Francisco, California, in 1995...
- Zbigniew NamyslowskiZbigniew NamyslowskiZbigniew Namysłowski is a Polish jazz alto saxophonist, flautist, cellist, trombonist, pianist and composer born in Warsaw, perhaps best-known for appearing on the Krzysztof Komeda album "Astigmatic"...
- Avishai Cohen
2009
- Dee Dee BridgewaterDee Dee BridgewaterDee Dee Bridgewater is an American Jazz singer. She is a three-time Grammy Award winning singer-songwriter, as well as a Tony Award - winning stage actress and host of National Public Radio's syndicated radio show JazzSet with Dee Dee Bridgewater...
- John ScofieldJohn ScofieldJohn Scofield , often referred to as "Sco," is an American jazz guitarist and composer, who has played and collaborated with Miles Davis, Dave Liebman, Joe Henderson, Charles Mingus, Joey Defrancesco, Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny, Bill Frisell, Pat Martino, Mavis Staples, Phil Lesh, Billy Cobham,...
- Eli DegibriEli DegibriEli Degibri is an Israeli jazz saxophonist, composer and arranger.-Early life:Degibri first began playing the mandolin at age 7 in an after school music program at the Jaffa Conservatory of Music...
- Rob IckesRob IckesRob Ickes is a dobro player. A Northern California native , Rob Ickes [rhymes with "bikes"] moved to Nashville in 1992 and joinedthe contemporary bluegrass band Blue Highway as a founding member in 1994...
- Paquito D'RiveraPaquito D'RiveraPaquito D'Rivera is a Cuban alto saxophonist, clarinetist and soprano saxophonist. The winner of multiple Grammys and other awards, D'Rivera has lived in the United States since the early 1980s. He has worked in a variety of contexts, but is perhaps best known for playing Latin...
- Lionel LouekeLionel LouekeLionel Loueke is a guitarist born in the west African country of Benin. He moved to Ivory Coast in 1990 to study at the National Institute of Art. He attended the American School of Modern Music in Paris, France from 1994-1998...
- Jean-Michel PilcJean-Michel PilcJean-Michel Pilc is a self-taught French-born jazz pianist currently residing in New York. His technical ability has drawn comparisons to Michel Petrucciani, McCoy Tyner, and Cecil Taylor. Of particular note is Pilc's left-hand technique, which provides an almost ambidextrous approach to the...
- Chano DomínguezChano DomínguezChano Domínguez is a Latin jazz, post bop and flamenco jazz pianist. He began in the progressive rock group CAI before moving on to jazz...
- Kurt RosenwinkelKurt RosenwinkelKurt Rosenwinkel is an American jazz guitarist and keyboardist who came to prominence in the 1990s.-Biography:He attended the Berklee School of Music for two and a half years before leaving in his junior year to tour with Gary Burton, the dean of the school at the time...
Israeli jazz acts included:
- The Apples
- Funk'n'Stein
- Amos Hoffman
- Marina Maximilian Blumin
2010
- Rickie Lee JonesRickie Lee JonesRickie Lee Jones is an American vocalist, musician, songwriter, and producer. Over the course of a three-decade career, Jones has recorded in various musical styles including rock, R&B, blues, pop, soul, and jazz standards.-Childhood:...
- Dave WecklDave WecklDave Weckl is a highly acclaimed jazz fusion drummer. Weckl attended Francis Howell High School in St. Charles, MO and graduated in 1978. He majored in jazz studies at the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut...
- Gary BurtonGary BurtonGary Burton is an American jazz vibraphonist.A true original on the vibraphone, Burton developed a pianistic style of four-mallet technique as an alternative to the usual two-mallets. This approach caused Burton to be heralded as an innovator and his sound and technique are widely imitated...
- Nikki YanofskyNikki YanofskyNicole "Nikki" Yanofsky is a Canadian jazz-pop singer from Hampstead, Quebec. She is involved in charitable causes, and released her first studio album on her own label, A440 Entertainment, and on Decca Records outside of Canada. Yanofsky sang Canada's national anthem at the opening ceremonies of...
- Jeff Watts
- Hermeto PascoalHermeto PascoalHermeto Pascoal is a Brazilian composer and multi-instrumentalist. He was born in Lagoa da Canoa, Alagoas, Brazil. Pascoal is a greatly beloved musical figure in the history of Brazilian music, known for his abilities at orchestration and improvisation, as well as being a record producer and...
- Dave DouglasDave Douglas (trumpeter)Dave Douglas is an American jazz trumpeter and composer whose music derives from many non-jazz musical styles, including classical music, folk music from European countries and Klezmer. He has been a member of the experimental big band Orange Then Blue...
- Stefon HarrisStefon HarrisStefon Harris is an American jazz vibraphonist. In 1999, the Los Angeles Times called him "one of the most important young artists in jazz" who is "at the forefront of new New York music" and "much in demand as a star sideman"...
Israeli acts included:
- Berry SakharofBerry SakharofBerry Sakharof is an Israeli rock guitarist, songwriter and singer.-Biography:Sakharof was born in Izmir, Turkey in 1957. His family immigrated to Israel when he was 3 years old.-Start of career:...
- Marsh Dondurama
- Ofer Ganor
2011
- Avishai Cohen
- Michael KaeshammerMichael KaeshammerMichael Kaeshammer is a Canadian boogie-woogie pianist, vocalist, composer, and arranger.After studying classical piano for seven years in his German homeland, a 13-year-old Kaeshammer discovered boogie-woogie and stride piano as played by Albert Ammons, Meade Lux Lewis, Pete Johnson, Pinetop...
- Steve SmithSteve Smith (musician)Steve Elliott Smith is an American drummer who has worked with hundreds of artists in his career, but is mostly known for being the drummer of the rock band Journey during their peak years of success. Modern Drummer magazine readers voted him the #1 All-Around Drummer five years in a row...
- Grégoire MaretGregoire MaretGrégoire Maret was born in 1975 in Geneva, Switzerland. He began playing the harmonica at the age of 17. He graduated from high school in 1994....
- Gretchen ParlatoGretchen ParlatoGretchen Parlato is an American jazz singer. She has performed and recorded with musicians such as Lionel Loueke, Wayne Shorter and Kenny Barron....
- Assaf Avidan
Israeli acts included Yael Deckelbaum
Habanot Nechama
Habanot Nechama is an Israeli folk band. The group is composed of three female vocalists: Karolina, Dana Adini, and Yael Deckelbaum.They are best known for their self-titled, debut album which went platinum in Israel, and their hit song So Far.-History:Habanot Nechama was formed in 2004 in Tel...
, Yoni Rechter
Yoni Rechter
Yoni Rechter is an Israeli musician, composer, pianist, arranger and singer.-Biography:Yonatan Rechter was born in Tel Aviv, Israel. He was the son of Israeli architect Ya'akov Rechter and stepson of Israeli actress Hanna Meron. He attended Tichon Hadash high school...
and Zohar Fresko, among others.