Just imagine a jazz festival with concerts held in the heart of a botanical garden, inside palaces, open-air amphitheaters, and concert halls spread across a city by the Tyrrhenian Sea (a part of the Mediterranean). We were present at one.
The Sicilia Jazz Festival (SJF), held in the city of Palermo, Sicily, was one of those pleasant surprises that remind you just how rewarding discovering places like this can be. Set on the Mediterranean Sea, the festival’s fifth edition was held from June 22 to July 6, bringing history and the most exciting jazz music together.
There was plenty of jazz available for the taking, with over 70 live concerts and events held at multiple venues. Several international headliners were on show as well, including the likes of Cécile McLorin Salvant, Jazzmeia Horn, John Pizzarelli, Victor Wooten, Eliane Elias, Nina Zilli, Village People, Piero Pelu, Toscanini Jazz Orchestra, and several others from around Europe.
One of the most pleasing aspects of the SJF was the lineup of world-class big jazz bands performing at various venues, including the world’s only theatre dedicated exclusively to jazz. Throughout the festival, we were thoroughly entertained by several performers from some of the biggest bands.
Mounting a large ensemble, sometimes with as many as 21 musicians, is often a cumbersome, complicated, and expensive proposition for anyone staging jazz concerts. Here, the planning and execution, done with a high degree of dedication and financial wherewithal by the organisers, enriched the festival considerably. A big band is indeed a luxury not often heard at jazz concerts.
It was nice to see that star performers from the US, like vocalists Cécile McLorin Salvant, Jazzmeia Horn, John Pizzarelli, and bassist Victor Wooten, were all provided with the backing of the Orchestra Jazz Siciliana, an 18 to 21-piece jazz band.
Salvant is arguably the finest female jazz vocalist today. She took over the stage with her superb trio of Sullivan Fortner on piano, Yasushi Nakamura on bass and Kyle Poole on drums. This quartet is already formidable in performance, but with the meticulous backing of the Orchestra Jazz Siciliana, the level of Salvant’s performance rose several notches.
We found the orchestra to be of the highest quality, made up of individuals who clearly excelled at their craft. We were staggered by the fact that a band comprising four trumpets, trombones, and saxophones—along with one each of guitar, flute, upright bass, drums, percussion, and piano backing the vocalist—could sound so wonderfully coordinated, like a well-oiled, finely tuned machine.
We spoke with the artistic director (and curator) of the festival, Luca Luzzu, about this difficult synchronisation between the orchestra and artists living on another continent. He said that the band was rehearsing every day from May onwards to prepare for the festival. Rehearsal sessions on Zoom with the American artists went a long way in bringing about the end result. Luzzu had written arrangements for the session with Victor Wooten and coordinated between the band and the foreign vocalists who sang with the band.
The collaboration was a resounding success, with the sold-out performance drawing repeated applause from an appreciative audience..
Salvant had chosen an unusual setlist for the evening, featuring two songs by Sting—“Fragile” and “Until”—as well as Stevie Wonder’s “Visions,” jazz standards like “I’ve Got Your Number” and “Lover Come Back,” and the pièce de résistance: “Everything Must Change,” in which Cécile was outstanding. We had first heard this piece at the iconic Jazz Yatra 1978, sung by Joe Williams at Rang Bhavan in Mumbai.
The set from Cécile McLorin Salvant was a truly sophisticated exhibition of jazz singing. She keeps refining her craft and deserves a place alongside the great divas in the jazz tradition. Coincidentally, the venue in Palermo, Teatro Di Verdura, was quite reminiscent of Mumbai’s Rang Bhavan. Set in a large garden with a stage and setting similar to the now-defunct space in Mumbai, it lent a nice, informal atmosphere in an open setting, especially for those jazz folks in Mumbai who still recall the series of Jazz Yatra festivals held at Rang Bhavan with fondness.
Also at Teatro Di Verdura was featured bassist Victor Wooten, a multi-Grammy winner, leader of the Flecktones backing Bela Fleck, and considered by some to be the best contemporary bassist in the world. The spectacle of a bass soloist with a big band was novel, but the dexterity from Victor Wooten made it sound as if he and the band had been playing together for a long time. Opening with an inspired harmonica introduction for “Clyde Boogie,” the added element in the band perfectly complemented Wooten’s virtuosity.
Victor did a vocal and bass funky arrangement of “Me and My Bass Guitar”, a sweet version of Stevie Wonder’s “Overjoyed,” and even played “Sinister Minister” from his first album with Bela Fleck, adding a funky harmonica solo to this.
The Orchestra Jazz Siciliana (big band) was truly outstanding, and the soloists added a fine punctuation to the arrangements. The combination of Wooten with the orchestra worked beautifully.
At the same venue with the same jazz orchestra backing, Jazzmeia Horn, a highly sought-after American jazz vocalist, sang an upbeat set of jazz. While she sang only one standard, “He’s My Guy” immortalised by Sarah Vaughan in the company of Clifford Brown, Jazzmeia sang her own music while explaining the context in which it was written. “Happy Times” and “Strive” were her opening numbers until she got into singing “Can’t Buy Me Love”. She explained that this song was sung by her in a completely different mood from the original. We did not find any resemblance whatsoever with the Beatles’ masterpiece. But then, that’s the freedom of jazz.
On “Voice Mail Blues”, Jazzmeia ascribed the tune to the ringtone on her phone and penned funny lyrics. “Bow to the Unknown” and “Flip the Switch” brought her set to an end as she walked through the audience while singing. While her stage presence, energy and interactions with the audience was engaging, we found that Jazzmeia Horn was singing largely in the upper register, and her voice sometimes came through as being shrill. It could not have been blamed on the equipment, which we found delivered superb acoustics throughout the festival.
Italian vocalist Nina Zilli had also performed with this big band along with three of her backup singers. She sang largely in Italian and we recognised her Italian version of a Phil Collins offering, “You Can’t Hurry Love,” and a nice rendition of the popular “Solamente Tu” that was very well received by the audience. She ended with “Baby Don’t Care” with the band, conducted by Vito Giordano, playing a Count Basie-style backing for this up-tempo offering.
In the idyllic setting of the Botanical Garden in Palermo, a group of guitarists from Portugal and Turkey played an aesthetically pleasing set. The Quarteto de Guitaras Concordis from Lisbon, and later the guitar duo of Cenk Erdogan from Turkey and Antonio Forcione, played gentle jazz that went perfectly with the surroundings.
At another, equally spectacular venue, this time in the centre of Palermo, Palazzo Steri, once a palace, as the name suggests, we heard several concerts from the SJF. This palace has an interesting, if dubious history. It was the place where the dreaded Inquisition took place from around the year 1500. Sicily and Malta were under Argonnese rule at that time. It was an extension of the Spanish Inquisition.
But, in 2025, only the beautiful sounds of jazz can be heard at this venue. Like the Teatro Di Verdura, Palazzo Steri is an open-air venue with wonderful natural acoustics; rainfall is rare, so the open-air setup works well in the warm climate.
We were entertained by the Toscanini Jazz Orchestra led by Giacomo Tantilo. Comprising largely of students from the jazz conservatory, this band delivered a tight, harmonious sound. Several individual vocalists and pianists were highlighted. The highlight for us was when maestro Giacomo Tantilo played trumpet as he led the orchestra with “Feel So Good”, the cheerful, upbeat tune from Chuck Mangione.
Also performing at this venue was the big band from the Netherlands, Licks & Brains. The band mainly comprises amateur musicians (they work in fields other than music but play together regularly), and arrived in Palermo at their own cost. Color coordinated right down to their shoes, this band played an entertaining set, which included vocals from their talented guitarist. The band opened with a full version of Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” and played long into the night, with guest solo performances by Fabio Lanino adding a funky bass, and Alexander Beets, who gave us a warm solo on his tenor saxophone.
One of the most interesting things we discovered during our time there was how jazz first arrived in Sicily. We met with Maestro Ignazio Garsia, a pianist who had heard jazz during his travels and was determined to introduce it to his fellow Sicilians. We met with the pioneering force, whose passion and vision gave Palermo a jazz foothold, who told us about how in 1974, he invited folk musicians and classically trained instrumentalists to perform with him, and slowly, a jazz band took shape. He created an orchestra to play jazz and gradually convinced the government to patronize and subsidize jazz musicians the same way they did with their classical music performers.
It is through his efforts that Sicily has become a centre for jazz concerts and festivals. In fact, as the Maestro informed us, a theatre, the Real Teatro Santa Cecilia, has been allocated solely for jazz performances and concerts. It is perhaps the only auditorium in the world dedicated to jazz alone.
I had the pleasure of participating in a lecture at this venue on June 28, speaking to an audience of jazz students and professionals. I was in conversation with Fabio Lanino, Director of Production of the Sicilia Jazz Festival and director of the Real Teatro di Santa Cecilia. Fabio is also Partner at the World Jazz Network, and is creating opportunities for musicians across the globe. I was invited to present a 90-minute master class to students and faculty of the jazz department of the Conservatorio of Palermo, plus an audience of other musicians from the festival. As an avid listener and follower of jazz for around 70 years, through its most exciting phase of development, I’ve had the good fortune of meeting and interacting with some iconic jazz musicians.
At the lecture, I spoke of meeting Bill Evans in a jazz club in London. I was not allowed to enter the club, being below the minimum drinking age of 21 years at the time, and sat, freezing on the steps outside the basement establishment of Ronnie Scott’s, to simply listen. At intermission, Bill Evans came out and asked why I was sitting outside instead of in the club. When I told him why, he went up to the bar, brought me and himself a coke, and sat with me to have a chat. This from a supposedly introverted man. I also spoke of being unbelievably lucky to be at the release of the iconic, almost legendary John Coltrane album, A Love Supreme. It was an invite-only event at New York’s famous jazz club Birdland, which I got into only because they decided to let in 4 or 5 people from the street. To top it all, Coltrane came and sat at my table, right by the stage, and we had a long conversation. He spoke of the influence of Hindustani classical music on his playing, particularly of Ustad Bismillah Khan, the shehnai wizard. I spoke about a few more personal experiences and concerts, including being at the 1971 Newport Jazz Festival in the midst of a stampede.
In the Q&A portion, I was asked about when the first Indo jazz collaboration took place and between which musicians (it was Ravi Shankar with jazz musicians Bud Shank and Paul Horn in the 1950s), what I thought of fusion music in the jazz context, and what I thought of jazz played in non-American countries and musicians.
My perspective was that jazz is a universal language. While it was developed mostly by African-Americans, the methods of improvisation are universal. Jazz remains jazz with flavours and hues absorbed from different musical cultures. Ultimately, when a jazz musician is playing his or her improvised solo, a story is being told. So the message is “listen”. As you experience life, I said to the young students, your stories will get more and more interesting. An impromptu jam session with Cenk Erdogan on guitar, Fabio Lanino on upright bass, and pianist Tomasso Lanino followed this session.
In conclusion, the festival would have been exciting even for those who were fringe jazz followers, thanks to its mainstream sound and attention to high-quality acoustics. While the presence of some of the big names in jazz drew in audiences, there was also emphasis on introducing young and newly discovered talent. The presence of musicians from Poland, Turkey, Portugal, the Canary Islands, the big band from the Netherlands, and others who performed at the Sicilia Jazz Festival is evidence that jazz is fast becoming a truly global form of expression. Festivals like this point to an evolving pattern of musicians from varied jazz backgrounds coming together on international stages. I look forward to the time when Indian jazz musicians become a part of this worldwide musical dialogue.
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