Time in Jazz pays tribute to Miles Davis

And that makes 39. Time in jazz, the festival conceived and directed by Paolo Fresu in Berchidda in 1988 is growing, renewing itself and doubling its appointments this year. Because to enrich a fairly robust programme there will be a three-day preview, between 19 and 21 June. The title is 'Kind of blue', a homage to Miles Davis' 1959 masterpiece, as it is the 100th anniversary of his birth.

"The prince of darkness was born one hundred years ago like his friend and colleague John Coltrane, to whom we have dedicated the festival in 2024," said Paolo Fresu during the presentation in Paris, at the headquarters of the Italian Institute of Culture. "We will eviscerate Miles Davis not only in music but also in literature and art, in the environment and in cinema. With over seventy events we will try to tell what Miles would have wanted to be and what we are today'.

Una panoramica di Berchidda

This edition will have a novelty, just for the summer solstice. From the 19th to the 21st, the appointment is at Sa colte 'e su oltiju, the garden of Sa Casara, the former dairy that has hosted the Time in Jazz venue for years. It will begin on Friday with two big names in Italia jazz, drummers Gegè Munari (born in 1934) and Gianni Cazzola (born in 1938) in dialogue with Paolo Fresu, and then in concert alongside young musicians, in an evening that will be opened by Peppe Spanu's trio, between rock and contemporary jazz.

Saturday 20 will be the turn of Antonello Salis, protagonist of a meeting with Fresu that will culminate with the Lifetime Achievement Award to the Sardinian pianist and accordionist. On stage, then, the eclectic voice of Casadilego and the borderless sounds of Gaia Cuatro, balanced between Argentina and Japan. Sunday 21 will open with the suspended atmospheres of Mario Ganau to continue with Paolo Fresu and the presentation of "Qualcosa di Miles", the RAI Radio 3 podcast he wrote with Daria Corrias and Antonia Tessitore (present at the meeting).

Then the dates from 8 to 16 August, with a large international cast and tributes to Miles Davis: then the theatrical and musical performance 'Kind of Miles' by Paolo Fresu. Then the American Nicholas Payton with the Butcher Brown quintet, Giovanni Falzone who with the Libera Band presents a 'Suite for Miles' and the Miles Smiles Quartet created by Flavio Boltro to celebrate the centenary. In the groove opened by Miles Davis also moves the Norwegian Nils Petter Molvær, expected in Berchidda with the live reprise of his historic album 'Khmer'. The trumpet is also the instrument of excellence of other protagonists of the festival, including Markus Stockhausen in a duo with Iranian composer and santur player Alireza Mortazavi; Fabrizio Bosso with his quartet; Luca Aquino with accordionist Natalino Marchetti; Giorgio Li Calzi, who with Valerio Corzani in the role of narrator will give life to 'Nica's Dream. Trumpets and other wind instruments will also appear in the ranks of the Bandakadabra (which this year will make the customary sea crossing in music from Livorno to Golfo Aranci on board a Sardinia Ferries motorboat), the Koro Almost Brass, the Satoyama group, and the unfailing Banda Musicale 'Bernardo De Muro', in whose ranks Paolo Fresu took the first steps of his long and successful journey through the notes. Another brass that will shine in Berchidda is the tuba of Theon Cross, one of the key figures of the new London scene. On the 16th, closing at the Peschiera di San Teodoro, Paolo Fresu will perform in the tried and tested duo with bandoneonist Daniele di Bonaventura.