Summertime, a jazz festival that takes place every year in Rome, is one of the main events organised at the “Casa del Jazz” (jazz house).
The Casa del Jazz in Rome,
which was inaugurated few years ago in Villa Osio, a property which had been confiscated from the boss of the Magliana gang Enrico Nicoletti, has soon become a landmark for jazz musicians and lovers. The Casa del Jazz, which arises in a beautiful park, includes various spaces which are all meant to promote the knowledge of jazz music and to host concerts and recording sessions. In the three buildings that make up the Casa del Jazz, indeed, there are a professional recording studio, a library that hosts audio-video material and Italian and international jazz magazines and books, an audiovisual archive where you can find the recordings of the concerts that have taken place in the Casa del Jazz, and last but not least an auditorium with approximately 150 seats that hosts live concerts, but also films projections, lectures on the history of jazz, listener’s guide for those who are not expert, press conferences, records and books presentations, workshops and master classes. The ideal place for all jazz lovers, who often plan their holidays in Rome just to immerse themselves in their favourite music.
Summer is certainly the best period to visit the Casa del Jazz: for some years the beautiful park of Villa Osio has hosted Summertime, an important jazz festival featuring the best Italian and international jazz musicians. Jazz music will be played throughout July, thanks to a series of concerts that have already convinced many jazz lovers to book hostels in Rome. The festival will kick off on the 1st of July with “The Unknown Rebel Band”, featuring piano player Giovanni Guidi, which tells stories of freedom, rebellion and justice through music, and will then go on with “Giovani leoni europei” (young European lions), a project realised with the help of some European institutions that will bring on the stage of the Casa del Jazz young Italian, Swedish, Dutch and German musicians. One of the aims of the festival, and more in general of the Casa del jazz, is supporting young talented musicians, besides hosting jazz icons. And famous jazz players will not miss in the festival: the audience of Villa Osio will enjoy the music played by important artists like Baptiste Trotignon, an excellent piano player that will play in a quintet made of some of the most interesting musicians of New York’s scene, Italian Enrico Pieranunzi, American trumpeter Dave Douglas, who will perform with the Brass Ecstasy, a homage to Lester Bowie and his Brass Fantasy, and many more.
Other events that you cannot miss include the performance of Leo Pantarei, an Italian percussionist participating in the Omparty project who plays a very original kind of music, the concert of the trio lead by piano player Marc Cary, which plays acoustic jazz mixing different music traditions (Afro-American, Indian, Western African and Native American’s), and the performance of the Sinenomine Ensemble, which is characterised by a thorough research on folk music, sounds and vocality.
Do not miss this event: book now a hotel in Rome.
Date: 1st – 31st July 2009
Location: Casa del Jazz, Rome, Italy
