Episode #36
Episode #36
Recording Date: July 13, 2007
Location: Pescara Jazz Festival, Pescara, Italy
Featured Artists:
Guiseppe Continenza
A24
Panjeazz
Speakin’ Four
Gary Burton Quartet Revisited
Marcello Sebastiani
The SF Jazz Collective
Ornette Coleman
This was another “Special Edition” International episode of Studio Jams…different in concept from a typical Studio Jams program in that rather than bring musicians into a recording studio and watch them create fresh new music on the spot, we opted instead to take viewers to a notable International jazz festival and simply introduce them to various performers who appeared there, through a combination of interview and short performance segments.
This episode took us to the beautiful east coast of Italy, to the annual Pescara Jazz Festival. Although not one of Europe’s largest annual festivals, it is certainly among the most prestigious – as it has remained true to the traditional jazz genre, and for the most part, has resisted simply adding popular rock and pop groups to its line-up, just to help them sell more tickets.
Pescara is a mid-size city located on the shore of the Adriatic Sea. Unlike Rome and the Amalfi coast on the other side of the country, Pescara and the Abruzzo region of Italy has not yet been “discovered” and overrun with tourists. It is a beautiful part of the world, for sure – I suspect much like Tuscany was, 20 years ago. We, as Americans, were definitely in the minority while we were there, and truly some of the very few people at the festival that spoke any English at all. We loved it. We were visitors, not tourists.
The following artists are profiled in this episode:
The Guiseppe Continenza Quartet (Italy)
A fine guitarist from the Jimmy Bruno/Pat Martino school of jazz leads this group.
A24 (Italy)
A straight-ahead quartet named after A24, the major highway from Rome to Pescara.
Panjeazz (Italy)
Another straight-ahead quartet.
Speakin’ Four (Italy)
I believe this quartet was local to Pescara.
Marco Di Battista & Marcello Sebastiani
A fine guitarist from the Jimmy Bruno/Pat Martino school of jazz leads this group.
The SF Jazz Collective (USA)
One of the few American groups that were there; this configuration included the great Joe Lovano on sax and Stefon Harris on vibes.
Ornette Coleman (USA)
A true jazz legend, what more can you say?
If you’re planning a July trip to Italy, and if you are a serious jazz fan, a trip to the 3-day Pescara Jazz Festival in the city of Pescara should definitely be on your itinerary. In fact, we enjoyed it so much, we paid them another visit the following year to tape another “Special Edition” episode for this series (see Episode #44).
Ciao!
– Tom Emmi / Producer
