The National Centre for the Performing Arts launched the NCPA International Jazz Festival in 2017 to bring to audiences acclaimed jazz bands and soloists from across the country and the world in a format that \u201ccombines experimental styles with familiar standards and new compositions with others by the masters\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A successor to the erstwhile Jazzmatazz festival, the NCPA International Jazz Festival has played host to such renowned names as bassist Ari Roland and saxophonists Camille Thurman and Greg Banaszak from the US, trumpeter Kevin Davy from the UK and singer Elisabetta Antonini from Italy. It has also featured American ensembles such as The Clifford Brown Legacy Band and Mingus Dynasty Quintet whose concerts pay tribute to jazz greats of the past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After a hiatus in 2020 and 2021, the event returned in 2022 for its fourth edition. The line-up comprised veteran American pianist Monty Alexander, whose concert saw him returning to his Jamaican roots (on Friday, 25 November); pianist Thilo Wolf’s Jazz Quartett from Germany, which collaborated with countrywoman, singer Johanna Iser (on Saturday, 26 November); and the Mingus Big Band from the US, a 14-piece collective that celebrated the music of legendary composer and instrumentalist Charles Mingus (on Sunday, 27 November).<\/p>\n\n\n\n