The 8th Kavkaz Jazz Festival will start in Tbilisi today. For six days, bands and individual performers from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey will hold master classes and offer performances to celebrate jazz scenes of their countries.
The roster will include saxophonist Armen Huysnunts, United States-based Georgian drummer George Mel and ZZAJ Patterns from Azerbaijan.
The event will open on June 14 with master classes for young artists at Tbilisi State Conservatoire.
Aspiring jazz musicians attending the event will learn from Huysnunts, who has played alongside famous performers including Grammy Award-winning bassist Richard Bona and keyboardist Joe Zawinul.
The sessions will also be led by pianist Salman Gambarov, founder of Bakustic Jazz band featuring "habitual combo and fusion, and modal jazz”, said festival organisers.
US-based drummer George Mel, a graduate of Berklee College Of Music, will also mentor participants of the classes, looking to share his experience from playing with artists including Esperanza Spalding and Avishai Cohen.
Finally, bassist Senturk Oztas will round off the roster of artists leading the sessions. The Turkish musician has been part of jazz projects including Songs From A Breeze and Social Inclusion Band.
Following on the master classes, a concert of four bands will entertain audience at Tbilisi’s Movement Theatre on June 17.
The Kavkaz Jazz Festival will conclude on June 19 with a jam session ‘Jazz Up The Borders’, featuring artists from the festival roster and students taking part in the master classes, Agenda.ge reported.
