Although most jazz festivals have a difficult time just trying to keep jazz as their focal points, the Panama Jazz Festival, founded by the pianist and composer Danilo Pérez, has the perfect formula that brings music education to students, Panama’s colorful music history and great jazz performances for people of all ages from around the world.
The festival that roared on with stimulated exuberance for four days (Jan. 10-14) was celebrating its 14th year of bringing a meaningful encounter within the jazz paradigm to the Republic of Panama.
The festival was dedicated to Panama’s best jazz singer, Violeta Green. After death, her vocal versatility continues to inspire generations of aspiring musicians around the world.
“Dizzy Gillespie said it’s more important to learn about your heritage than about other things,” stated Pérez during our breakfast interview in the designated festival hotel. “Jazz is where you come from. I wanted more than just a jazz festival. I felt responsible to continue spreading the message of Dizzy and Randy Weston regarding our heritage.”
The Danilo Pérez Foundation plays a major role in these annual jazz festivals. Many of the organization’s young musicians performed during the afternoon, and some graduates, who are now attending the Berklee Global Jazz Institute or the New England Conservatory, performed in various venues and as opening acts on the main stages.
The DPF was established in 2005, but the work and the spirit that personifies its mission goes back 25 years, when Pérez began developing musical programs for education in Panama. “We wanted to create a foundation for underprivileged children, to see if music can change people from violence by getting them off the streets,” said Pérez. “We work with children of gang members, who want their children to have a better life, mothers from extreme poverty to some of the richest families in Panama.”
The base of the foundation’s work is music education. “We are using music as a tool for social change as we establish relationships with our youth in assisting them to become leaders,” stated Pérez.
His jazz club, located in old Panama City, is a part of the students’ musical journey.
Most of the venues were on the land that was formerly Fort Clayton, the headquarters of the United States Army. The base closed in 1999 under the Torrijos-Carter Treaties. The many barracks were reconstructed into residential housing, schools, a minimall and the Ciudad del Saber (City of Knowledge) headquarters.
The festival was a beehive of excitement. Young students scurrying around carrying their instruments taking daily classes, as well as clinics conducted by such accomplished musicians as the drummers Terri Lyn Carrington and Brian Blade, the guitarist Tom Patitucci, the violinist Oryana Racines (Panama), the Latin percussionist Oscar Cruz and the young saxophonist Nzinga Banks from the Berklee Jazz Global Institute.
Insightful clinics featured the journalist, lecturer and NPR radio host Beto Arcos discussing “Podcasting: Radio in the Era of Twitter” and the New York Jazz Academy.
Dr. Gerardo Maloney, a renowned Panamanian sociologist, filmmaker and writer, inserted video clips for the “history of calypso in Panama.” Lord Cobra, born Wilfred Methusiel Berry Gonin, infused his Panamanian imprint to the sound of calypso, a reputation that followed him from his native land to New York and Europe. Also discussed were highlights of Green’s significant contributions.
“The legendary musicians of Panama” came to life as Mario Garcia Hudson played some of their recorded albums on vinyl and 45 rpm’s. Some recordings included the saxophonist Mauricio Smith and singers Camelo Azqouita and Manny Bolano (whose smoky voice was similar to Nat King Cole, Columbia Records).
My limited Spanish didn’t get me far (hablo espanol muy pequeño), but I understood some phrases, and the videos and music spoke for themselves. However, after the panels, I was able to converse with the speakers through an interpreter.
My host, Keren Batista, who worked with the festival was of great assistance to me throughout my stay as an interpreter and securing needed interviews.
The hot afternoons with a cloudless sky were beaming with free jazz concerts at various venues into the early evening. Some included young students from DPF, students from the Thelonious Monk Institute, the guitarist/singer Naty Hernandez, and Omar Diaz y el grupo Dede, the Panamanian percussionist and drummer who combined Afro rhythms with Panamanian folklore call and response with furious drum and conga beats.
The young group, Los Nietos del Jazz, of DPF enjoyed a steady gig each evening from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Jazz en el Holiday Inn. These young musicians have a clear perspective of the jazz terrain and did a good job of homogenizing those efforts with their Panamanian roots.
The six-piece band included trumpeter Pablo Mures, saxophonists Oliver Mall and Luis Carlos Ledezma, bass guitarist Luis Angel Navarro, cajón player Michael Talavera and drummer/conga player Oscar Cruz Jr. Their interpretations of “Afro Blue” and Chick Corea’s “Spain” were very impressive.
Some of the main highlights included Dianne Reeves and guitarist Romero Lubambo. There are incredible female vocalists but none quite hold your attention like Reeves, with her distinct tone, fluctuating colors and the scatting. The audience enjoyed moments of intuitive swinging bliss as Reeves performed with her longtime accompanist, Lubambo.
The following night’s grand gala at the Teatro Anayansi was flavored with a red carpet. Performers were Pérez, special guest bassist/vocalist Esperanza Spalding, Children of the Light Trio (Pérez, John Patitucci and Brian Blade) and the Global Jazz Big Band, directed by Bill Dobbins (professor of jazz studies at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester and director of the Eastman Jazz Ensemble).
Spalding played a jazzy bass, which she has somewhat stepped away from in her own current repertoire. She also took on vocal duties, singing Stevie Wonder’s “Overjoyed” and “Prelude to a Kiss,” made popular by Ella Fitzgerald.
The trio that included Pérez brought their own sound to the party, with accented variations by the big band. The tenor saxophonist George Garzone came to the stage, adding his vibrant tone to the collective.
The Berklee Global Jazz Institute with special guest drummer and composer Carrington were grooving from the composition “Moon Rabbit” to the colorful Eric Dolphy composition.
The band included pianist Chase Morrin, bassist Isaac Levien, saxophonist Nzinga Bank, guitarist Vasilis Kostas and drummer Lesley Mok. “Duke Ellington said jazz is no boxes, and this is what this group is all about, just playing good music,” said Carrington.
The Panama All-Stars, a six-piece ensemble plus the vocalist Luz Acosta, were as intense as a full moon at midnight. They infused Panamanian rhythms with jazzy melodies as Acosta effortlessly reconstructed standards such as “I Got You Under My Skin,” “Love Me or Leave Me” and “Unforgettable.”
The great feeling of this music made it seem as though it was in our DNA. To help collaborate that theory, the festival under the auspices of Patricia Pérez (founder) implemented the Latin American Symposium of Music Therapy five years ago. “The experience of music goes beyond the notes we play,” said Pérez. “We use music to heal.” Pérez is a saxophonist and former professor at Howard University and the University of Maryland (ethnomusicology).
This year’s symposium included such noted music therapists as Dr. Colin Andrew Lee, in Canada, Dr. Kathleen Howland at Berklee College of Music and Boston Conservatory and Talia Girton at the University of Louisville.
The festival ended on a high note at the Ciudad del Saber on the large field (3 p.m.-9 p.m.) with more than 1,000 people. Most attendees were under 35 years of age, demonstrating that jazz is cultivating younger audiences.
Everyone was waiting for The Beachers, a large Calypso ensemble whose music dictates everyone dances as if in a trance, which happened for the duration of their performance. The sky sparkling with fireworks was the only feasible finale. That was a jazz festival.