Malta Jazz Festival

Malta Jazz Festival

Location(s)	Valletta, Malta
Years active	1990 - present
Date(s)	mid-July
Genre	Jazz
Website	http://www.maltajazzfestival.org/

The Malta Jazz Festival is a three day musical event held every July on the Mediterranean island of Malta. The festival, held annually since 1990 at Ta` Liesse on the Valletta waterfront. The event has attracted such artists as Wayne Shorter, John Patitucci, Diana Krall, Chick Corea, Al Di Meola, Natalie Cole, Betty Carter, Michel Petrucciani, Bill Evans and Mike Stern.

In 2006, the event was controversially removed from the stewardship of Charles `City` Gatt, a pioneer in Maltese jazz and the festival's founder and original musical director. For three years the festival was placed in the hands of private promotion company N'n'G, who attempted to style it into a more populist "Rock and Jazz Festival" Festival. ^[1] Subsequent line-ups almost entirely shorn of contemporary jazz content and mainly featuring a host of passé rock musicians, reformed prog rock acts and tribute bands led the festival into a period of brief decline.

2009 saw the festival return to its roots under the directorship of Maltese musician Sandro Zerafa with a line-up of world-renowned jazz musicians. ^[2] The 2009 festival took place between July 16 and 18, with a line-up including Brad Mehldau, Eliane Elias, Miguel Zenon, John Scofield and Oliver Degabriele. The 2011 festival was held on the 14th, 15th and 16th July featuring Lionel Loueke, Joao Bosco, Monty Alexander and Avishai Cohen. ^[3]

External links

• Official Site of the Malta Jazz Festival
• Malta Jazz Festival Blog
• The Times of Malta

References

1. ^ http://www.maltaculture.com/page.asp?n=pressnewsdetails&i=7532&l=1 Malta Council for Culture and Arts press release
2. ^ http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20090417/local/top-names-for-revival-of-jazz-festival-in-valletta/ Times of Malta
3. ^ http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110407/local/eclectic-jazz-festival-announced/ Times of Malta