Some people like rock, some like pop, but the real cool kids get down to jazz, and there’s an event just for them this weekend. Here’s a guy who knows how to blow his own horn, Alex Miranda, to tell us all about it.
Mention the words “music” and “Miami,” and people immediately think “hip-hop” or “reggaeton,” but the Magic City actually has a vibrant jazz scene going on. The scene is celebrated over the next four days, when the South Beach Jazz Festival takes over the town.
Miami will be cooler and hotter than usual this week. The South Beach Jazz Festival kicks off Thursday.
David New: “The South Beach Jazz Festival is a four-day festival of events. It’s an amazing event that’s been growing over the past seven years with Grammy Award-winning musicians.”
The festival is a dream come true for SoFlo jazz buffs.
David New: “It is an opportunity for them to experience fantastic music from musicians all around the world.”
One of the performers lighting up the festival this year will be Miami songstress Nicole Henry. She’s definitely jazzed about her upcoming gig at The Bass Museum.
Nicole Henry: “It’s exciting, because I get to work with one of the best big bands in South Florida, the South Florida Jazz Orchestra, led by Chuck Bergeron, who is a professor at my alma mater, the University of Miami.”
Nicole says the festival’s popularity proves jazz is alive and well in South Florida.
Nicole Henry: “Saturday afternoon, they’re gonna have on Lincoln Road the future of jazz, all young jazz bands up and down Lincoln Road on South Beach, and so, to me, it’s a great sign that jazz is going to stay alive.”
Get ready to shake your bon-bon when it’s Mambo Time at the festival. Tito Puente Jr. will be heading up that party.
Tito Puente Jr.: “I’d say it has to be probably the most biggest highlight of 2023 for me to be performing alongside my brothers, Machito Jr. and Tito Rodriguez Jr., performing the music of our late fathers at the South Beach Jazz Festival.”
Tito’s dad was the legendary “King of Mambo,” Tito Puente. There’s no doubt Tito Jr. is carrying on the family tradition.
The show will be filled with Latin rhythms that everyone can groove to.
Tito Puente Jr.: “Well, the whole concert is the very nostalgic sound of the Palladium, very popular in New York City in the 1940s and ’50s. We’re gonna see some mamboniks from that era, and we’ll see some young people coming to enjoy good Latin jazz music at the South Beach Jazz Festival.”
The festival runs until Sunday. If you plan to attend, click here for more info.
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