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There will be not one, not two, but three days of great jazz concerts bringing some of the best international musicians to Lagos. And there will be street entertainment too, to try and win everyone over. A workshop, a mini-disk-fair and lots of music with concerts, jam sessions, and jazz in the streets will be the key features of the 2007 Lagos Jazz festival, which runs from 3rd to 7th April.

For Hugo Alves, the musician responsible for the Lagos Jazz Orchestra, expectations are high, to judge by the five previous events.

Hugo Alves said that expectations were as good as they could be to judge by the number of people enrolling for the jazz workshop, which is almost closed.

The trademark workshops give the event an educational slant, with seven trainers who are recognised at an international level in the field of jazz.

For Hugo Alves, the existence of this type of activity as well as the "jam sessions", jazz in the street and a mini-disk-fair are all plus points, as the festival should be a showcase for different things.

In terms of audiences, Hugo is confident, saying that normally audiences have been good and it is normal for concerts to be sold out. He added that this year the date for the festival had changed because it normally took place in August, but it had become complicated because of the number of people and things going on in the city.

The choice of April was connected with “matters of logistics”, and he said that it was a bit easier to organise it at this time, prices were lower and it was good to be able to offer the region more variety in cultural terms.

The Lagos Jazz Orchestra

The Lagos Jazz Orchestra was born in 2004, fruit of the first Lagos Jazz workshop and it currently brings together a team of 18 musicians.

Hugo Alves said that Lagos was a land of musicians, and he admits that he was surprised when after two or three days of the 2004 Lagos Jazz event, he was given a list of 25 names to create the orchestra.

He said that the orchestra was here to stay and would hold concerts mostly for the home market, and in Spain.

Jazz with a Lagos feel

At the Lagos Jazz Festival the Orchestra will do the honours as the hosts and will give the opening concert on 3rd April, at which guest musician José Menezes will be playing.

The concerts continue with IMI Kollektief “Snug As A Gun” (4th April), Mário Santos "Bloco de Notas" (5th April), the Kelvin Sholar Trio "The Fire Bird Suite" (6th April) and, to close the festival, the concert by workshop students, presentation of certificates and the Lagos Jazz Summit, which brings together the seven trainers on stage, on 7th April.

All concerts start at 10 pm at the Lagos Cultural Centre, where the mini-disk-fair will also be held.

After the concerts, the jam sessions will take place at Stevie Ray’s Blues Jazz Bar and there will be music in the streets: on 4th April in the Historical Centre of Lagos and on 6th April in the town of Praia da Luz.

source: algarve observer