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Wednesday,
August 8,
2007, #150 (1417) By Ana Datiashvili
The Black Sea Jazz Festival, running from August 27-29, is organized by the events company Eastern Promotion, the Adjaran Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport and the Tarabua Beach Club. The line-up includes names such as US3, Pavor Stelar and Band, and the Pee Wee Ellis Assembly featuring Fred Wesley. Georgia's well-known Dini Visraladze Trio and Dr. George's Saga will also be playing. Misha Giorgadze, director of Eastern Promotion, said the festival's acts were picked for their summer mood grooves, and everything is ready to go ahead. "The technical work is done, the only thing left is to eagerly wait for it to begin," Giorgadze told the Messenger on August 7. Dini Virsaladze Trio, Pavor Stelar and the Austrian group Band will perform on 27 August. Some of the artists mix a diverse range of styles to create a dynamic sound. St. Germain is the best known amongst them, famous for selecting warm and glowing samples in his tracks. Austrian Parov Stelar lays down his 'Jazz-Groove-Cutups' on a solid foundation of House. Stelar is not the first acid jazz artist to visit Georgia-last year UK band Jamiroquai played in Tbilisi. US3, a jazz-rap outfit from London, will play Batumi on August 28. The Pee Wee Ellis Assembly, with Fred Wesley, will close the festival the next day. Alfred "Pee Wee" Ellis worked with James Brown in the 60s, coming up with the first funk hit, "Cold Sweat." While James Brown went on to be known as the Godfather of Soul, Ellis is sometimes called "the man who invented funk." By 1970 Pee Wee worked as arranger and musical director for CTI-Kudu records, the most popular jazz label of the 70s. He worked with Esther Phillips as well as George Benson, Hank Crawford and dozens of other CTI artists. Best known for his work with James Brown and the JBs, Fred Wesley has built his career in funk and jazz. From 1968 through 1975, Wesley was music director, arranger, trombonist and a primary composer for Brown's band, helping to create a brand of funk that he helped take to a new level upon joining forces with George Clinton and Bootsy Collins in 1975. Wesley's 35-year career includes playing with and arranging for a wide variety of other artist such as Ray Charles, Ike and Tina Turner, Usher, Lionel Hampton, Randy Crawford, Vanessa Williams, The SOS Band, Cameo and rappers De La Soul, to name a few. Scores of other artists have sampled his work. "We didn't have any difficulties organizing the festival…the only problem is that there aren't any direct flights, so the musicians will have to reach Georgia by transit flights," said Giorgadze. Eastern Promotion's plans this year don't end with Batumi. After the Black Sea Festival, organizers are thinking of ways to keep music fans happy in the fall. "We want to
prepare something good and tasty for Georgian listeners in October or
November; we've got some interesting invitations, and probably Marcus
Miller or other famous musicians will play Tbilisi," said Giorgadze. |
Jazz
festival brings summer grooves to Batumi
