Carter and DeJohnette to star in Eilat

There are several stellar old hands in the lineup of the 29th edition of the Red Sea Jazz Festival, which will take place in Eilat August 23-26.

By BARRY DAVIS
Carter and DeJohnette (photo credit: SANDRINE LEE)
Carter and DeJohnette
(photo credit: SANDRINE LEE)
There are several stellar old hands in the lineup of the 29th edition of the Red Sea Jazz Festival, which will take place in Eilat August 23-26. Principle among the oldies but goodies is 78-yearold bass player Ron Carter, who will come here with a quartet that includes a percussionist as well as a drummer. Then there is the slightly younger but no less famous 72-year-old drummer Jack DeJohnette whose trio includes saxophonist Ravi Coltrane and bassist Matt Garrison, while 62-year-old seasoned saxophonist Joe Lovano will front a quartet.
Meanwhile, 30-year-old French singer Cyrille Aimée will bring the average non-Israeli-performer age down a couple of notches and, no doubt, introduce some more commercial strands to her international quintet gigs. Similarly aged American singer-cellist-guitarist-banjo player Leyla McCalla will stretch the sonic and genre spread in Eilat with her alluring blend of bluesy-folk numbers.
This year’s festival marks jazz saxophonist Eli Degibri’s first time as sole artistic director, after sharing the post with veteran world music radio presenter Dubi Lenz. Even so, there is a fair bit of non-jazz content in the four day program, as well as confluences between jazz and ethnic music.
Israeli world music pianist-vocalist Idan Raichel always draws the crowds, and that should also be the case when he takes the Port of Eilat stage along with Malian guitarist-vocalist Vieux Farke Touré and their Touré-Raichel Collective quartet. Saxophonist Daniel Zamir is evidently also looking to mix things down south, as his show with all-Israeli jazz quartet of pianist Tomer Bar, ubiquitous bass player Gilad Abro and drummer Amir Bresler will feature a guest appearance by singer-songwriter Eviatar Banai. Bresler will also be around to keep time for Germany-based Israeli pianist Omer Klein, alongside longtime Klein cohort New York-based Israeli bassist Haggai Cohen-Milo.
The four day program will close with a show by ethnically-inclined rocker guitarist- vocalist Berry Sakharof.
For tickets: *9080. For more information: www.redseajazz.co.il.