Cuba´s International Jazz Festival Scats to a Close

Jazzmen from fourteen countries, including the host nation, gathered in Havana last week for the 21st Plaza 2004 International Jazz Festival under the auspices of world-class Cuban pianist Chucho Valdes.

The annual event brought together the likes of Wagner Tiso from Brazil and France´s Michel Legarnd, who joined maestro Chucho Valdes in a piano concert that featured the coloratura-like voices of Mayra and Caridad Valdes, and the mellower vocals of Beatriz Marquez.

The 2004 Plaza Festival also showcased the riffs of Decidedly Jazz, the Hugh Fraser Quintet, Atlantic Standard Time (Canada), Victor Biglioni and the Leo Gandelman Quartet (Brazil), Luis Salinas (Argentina), Point Loma University Jazz Ensemble (United States), Kevin Haynes (U.K.) and Alberto Conde (Spain).

Other participating acts were Moyenne (Trinidad & Tobago), Konkie and His Band (Curazao), the Cobana Orchestra (South Korea), the Peter Weniger Trio (Germany), Latin from the North (Europe) and the Singh Nakauama Quarter (South Africa).