Paradise Place in Pomos, Paphos, is becoming the place where festivals find their home. This Friday and Saturday it will be home to the 17th Paradise Jazz Festival.
This year’s programme brings together live performance by four bands on both nights, and an afterhours jazz meeting where some of the island’s best new projects, co-operators and special guests will meet to introduce themselves, talk shop with anyone interested in finding out more and do what musicians do best, play music.
The festival will be underway at 9.30pm on Friday with a performance by the Christos Yerolatsitis Trio. The trio was formed by Yerolatsitis – a jazz pianist who has been living in the Netherlands for the past seven years. He has shared the stage with some of the best jazz musicians of the Dutch scene, such as Benjamin Herman, John Ruocco and Simon Rigter.
He currently performs on a regular basis in several projects in and around the Netherlands, both as an accompanying artist and as a lead musician.
Together with Andreas Rodosthenous on bass and Stelios Xydias on drums, Yerolatsitis will open the festival with some of the pianist’s original melodies.
At 10.30pm the festival will continue with a dynamic presentation – both in terms of musical style and a band’s composition – when the band Afro Funk 6tet will take to the stage.
The band’s members, who are very well known to Paradise Jazz Festival fans, are Michalis Michael on the trumpet, George Krasides on the saxophone and horns, Giorgos Morfitis on keys, Rodos Panagiotou and George Koulas on percussion and drums, and on acoustic bass Irinaeos Koullouras. Together the six musicians will perform standard jazz pieces with a stamp of originality.
The night will end with a jam session.
After resting up, the festival will return on Saturday at 9.30pm with Jacket, a three nation group formed by artists from Slovenia, Belgium and Cyprus. The quintet – who are Jan Kus on the saxophone, Ermis Michael on the guitar, Andreas Panteli on the piano, Cahit Kutrafali on the bass and Kristijan Krajncan on the drums – will perform original compositions by each member in the modern jazz style, presenting their latest released and unreleased work.
The members first crossed paths in the Netherlands during their studies at the Rotterdam Conservatory. Being based in different cities around the world now, the five musicians reunite once again to explore each other’s work and present their new music.
Next up at 11pm, the Ioanna Troullidou Sextet will present the Gershwin Project. The project includes a selection of songs written by the famous pianist and composer George Gershwin. Some of the songs have been arranged by composer and saxophonist Chris Byars with a more modern yet classical approach.
The songs will be interpreted and performed by singer Ioanna Troullidiou, with Charis Ioannou on saxophone, Elias Ioannou on trumpet, Marios Toumbas on piano, Irenaeos Koullouras on contrabass and Ioannis Vafeas on drums.
The night, and the festival, will end with a jamming session that will keep you on a jazzy high until next year.
17th Paradise Jazz Festival
Two-day jazz festival with live acts. August 5-6. Paradise Place – Pomos, Paphos. 9.30pm. €10. Tel: 26-342537
