The countdown to the 13th international jazz festival — the Koktebel Jazz Party — was launched at a news conference at the Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency. The festival is the brightest event in Crimea's cultural life. Its organizers announced the festival's program and the names of participants: the world's leading jazz artists, including saxophonist and clarinetist Gary Bartz (USA), virtuoso saxophonist Igor Butman (Russia), Yakov Okun's International Jazz Quintet and Enver Izmailov (Crimea). Larisa Dolina, a jazz star, will be a special guest of the festival.
After the news conference the guests enjoyed jazz improvisation at the Koktebel Jazz Pre-Party.
"The upcoming Koktebel Jazz Party will bring together many wonderful performers. It is enough to mention virtuoso guitarist Enver Izmailov, the Crimean legend; the magnificent saxophonist Gary Bartz from Yakov Okun's International Jazz Quintet, who has performed many times with such stars as Miles Davis, McCoy Tyner and Max Roach during his long career and Russia's best big band headed by Igor Butman. You will also meet interesting British bluesman Will Jones and many others. There will be many surprises as well. This will be an interesting event, so do come. Musicians from the five continents do not often gather on the same stage," the festival's Art Director Mikhail Ikonnikov said.
The world's jazz celebrities from Russia, Brazil, the United States, Israel, Britain, India, Armenia, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands will take part in the festival. Jazz musicians from Benin, Azerbaijan and Cuba will also attend this time. In 2015, the festival will be held under the motto "Five Continents Jazz."
For detailed information about the festival, visit its official site.
You can buy tickets for the festival on location or online.