Jazz transforms. Itself and all those it touches.
Hybrid by definition, today jazz encompasses an amazingly wide range of musical expression. After more than a century, it continues to flaunt time-honored
statements while undergoing incessant mutations, like a river that overflows and mingles with other waterways in the creation of all-new forms headed in unforeseen directions. Jazz flows and branches out as it breathes life into new styles and languages. Sometimes it’s an ingredient, other times it’s a decisive color, and at all times it fires the imagination as it draws inspiration from other cultures. Despite certain academic notions that rear their weary heads, what we stubbornly keep calling “jazz” keeps stubbornly eluding every definition.
The Torino Jazz Festival is a journey through this multiform reality, from a special point of view – that of a city that’s very much bristling with music. The history of jazz in Torino is almost as long as the history of jazz itself. This year’s Torino Jazz Festival is at once an opportunity to produce new music, bask in the light of superstars, and revel in the surprises that lesser-known artists have to offer, as we celebrate history and renewal together. The variety of styles and sounds will amaze, guaranteed!
Of course, a great music festival like Torino Jazz is about not only culture, but values, and sharing them. Values like peace, that continue to thrive in the legacy of Alice Coltrane; values like making music accessible to everyone and bringing it to the city’s less visible locations; values like education and setting the stage for the future.
Creativity means a better life for us all. Bring it on!
Stefano Zenni
Artistic Director