Cuban music is open and what comes from abroad enriches. Those interested in the latest trends and scope domestically had their chance within the programming of Jazz Plaza 2022, an event which, when the pandemic is over, has the potential to emerge as one of the pillars of Cuba’s cultural industry – which itself needs to be reinvented. Related to this point was the experimental convening of the Primera Línea forum and opening of spaces within the Leonardo Acosta in memoriam International Colloquium for discussion of how our jazz is promoted via discography and on international circuits.
As for who came to Havana, three individuals were especially noteworthy: Argentine guitarist Dominic Miller, and pianists Ray Lema, Congolese, and Laurent de Wilde, French-American. Each in his own way, these creators showed how far the limits of jazz can be expanded, with absolute expressive freedom and, at the same time, a coherence that responds to aesthetic assumptions - that personal combination of technical resources, assimilation of influences, maturing of concepts and public projection.
Known for his collaboration with Sting, Miller has made his mark more than once on the Havana scene. Music lovers hold dear the emotion of his 2015 concert at the Cuban Art Factory. That night he shared improvisations with maestro Pancho Amat; from rock and jazz guitar to the tres. This time he repeated the experience in an intimate concert, characterized by the predominance of introspection in the pieces performed, along with his small band, at the National Theater. He has another encounter with Manolito Simonet, as well.
Miller's music cannot be labeled; it is music above all else. Here is his philosophy: "If you are totally connected to the music, it will come out. It's a combination of meditation, control and, of course, being in the moment. Inspiration is like a crossword puzzle. You get part of a word and you have to finish it. I love the journey and I love completing it."
That dialectical ability to build a niche of his own in the language of jazz permeates the joint work of pianists Lema and De Wilde. Live, at two hands, they confirmed the impact caused by their albums Riddles (2016) and Wheels (2021) among the followers of the genre's latest in Europe.
Creating a palette in which atmosphere, color and harmonic density prevail more than melody, elements that moved the audience from surprise to acceptance, the two pianists flew a blimp loaded with multiple musical references: the classical Western piano tradition, blues, tango and reggae, bebop and ragtime, African roots and the newest ways of understanding jazz, where at times it is as if Thelonious Monk was taking Maurice Ravel by storm.
Individually, Lema and De Wilde completed different agendas. The Congolese shone in a concert with the National Symphony that preceded Jazz Plaza, guided by the conducting of Brazilian Joao Mauricio Galindo and Cuba’s Enrique Perez Mesa. He visited the Casa de África Museum, affiliated with the Office of the City Historian, to present a lecture on the music of Central Africa, at the invitation of Unesco’s Cuban National Commission, and ventured out to the Guillermo Tomás Conservatory in Guanabacoa, to share his knowledge of Congolese rumba.
For his part, De Wilde visited the Bertolt Brecht Cultural Center to support and learn from performances by guitarist and composer Pablo Menéndez, leader of Mezcla, as well as vibraphonist- producer Emilio Vega and his band.
