Umbria Jazz hits 50 in style

What Claude Nobbs did for the Montreaux Jazz Festival has certainly been matched by the efforts and hard work of Pagnotta in Umbria.

This year Pagnotta will be 90 and shows no signs of slowing down. He purchased his first jazz record in 1949 and in 1955 Pagnotta co-founded the Hot Club of Perugia bringing Louis Armstrong and Chet Baker to the club.  He then moved to London and immersed himself in the London Jazz scene. In these years Pagnotta said ‘I was only a jazz fan’ seeing Tubby Hayes, the Jazz Couriers and of course Ronnie Scott - Pagnotta proudly told me that in October 1959 he was at Ronnie Scott’s opening night in Gerrard Street, Soho.

After moving back to his beloved Perugia Pagnotta was a regular visitor to the Bologna Jazz Festival which at the time was the biggest in Italy. Then President of the Perugia Jazz Club he presented a proposal to the newly formed regional government of Umbria for a Jazz Festival. The proposal was accepted in 1973 and with the head of the new Culture and Tourism office it was decided to make it an Umbrian wide festival - a touring festival with concerts in Perugia, Terni, Orvieto, Todi & Gubbio. The festival was free entry and continued in this format until the late 1970’s when major student protests began causing public order problems. The 1977 festival was cancelled for fear of unrest and after a revamped 1978 edition the festival was put on hold.

The festival restarted in 1982 based mostly in Perugia along with the introduction of paid for tickets for the biggest shows. Growing popularity and ever larger crowds saw the main stage move in 2003 to the Arena Santa Giuliana - normally this venue is an athletics track and for the festival it has a capacity of 5,000 seated or 10,000 standing.

There are a lot of fond memories of the early years of the festival and most people you talk to will have their own favourite story - camping out under the colonnades of the Cathedral in the Piazza IV Novembre or the wild parties that went on for days.  I asked my friend and  fellow photographer Adriano Scognamillo, who has covered the festival from the beginning for his memories.

“The first years of UJ were a lot of fun - I could meet and talk to famous musicians who would regularly just walk along the Corsa Vannucci. I met Caetano Veloso who was explaining how to do the samba to some people and I got to take his portrait sitting at a table by the Hotel La Rosetta.

Another day I met Jorge Ben Jor who, seeing that I had a Rolleiflex camera, asked me to take his portrait on a bench in the Carducci Gardens while he sang to me “Fotografei você na minha Rolleiflex” (to the tune of Desafinado).

Snarky Puppy in action

The first concert I saw was in San Francesco al Prato. I didn't have a photo pass or ticket but another photographer got me in through a side door from which I had an excellent view of the conductor ... it was Carla Bley, one of my most treasured photos. The next day I met Carla sitting at a bar, I gave her the picture, which she loved and I took her portrait just where she sat with husband Steve Swallow ... they gave me just one shot!!

I was also able to make an appointment with Diana Krall when she was very new on the scene to take her portrait on the terrace of the Hotel Sangallo where she was staying.

One of the funniest moments was in the Frontone Gardens when I photographed Miles Davis; we weren’t supposed to take pictures but hey this was Miles Davis. Unfortunately Miles' bodyguards discovered me and confiscated all the rolls of film I shot except one (but they did gave me 50,000 lire as a refund for the films - that wouldn’t happen now!!

I also remember going to many jam sessions in the very small and ultra-crowded clubs that you find in the historic centre and seeing many famous musicians having fun.  UJ has changed over the years as it has grown but the family atmosphere still remains intact as well as the many magnificent concerts.

One memory that is forever etched in my heart was the surprise arrival of Joao Gilberto at a Caetano Veloso concert in the Teatro Morlacchi; two great performers alone on stage with guitars in hand ... Caetano was crying, Gilberto was crying and so was I.’

The festival sticks to a tried and trusted formulae. In the heart of the historic centre are two outdoor stages - one either end of the Corsa Vannucci.  The slightly smaller stage in the Giardini Carducci (in front of the Brufani hotel where most of the stars stay) has concerts from 1pm to 1.30am. The larger stage in the Piazza IV Novembre has concerts from 7.30pm to 1am. In Piazza Matteotti there is a swing stage from 7.30pm ‘till round midnight. In Via Della Viola in the Cloisters of a church is a cool jazz club with music from 7.30pm till the early hours including the jam session where if you are lucky the stars will come to have a blow. All along the Corsa Vannucci are dozens of bars and restaurants with outside tables where street musicians and performance artists entertain.  Twice a day the excellent Marching band Funk Off parade up and down the Corsa at 11.30 & 6pm. All of this is free entrance.

The paid for shows are in the Arena Santa Giuliana; the cool and peaceful Galleria Nazionale Dell’Umbria (a more intimate venue) but the jewel in the crown is the wonderful Teatro Morlacchi - a beautiful classic Italian theatre which for me is the place to hear and see jazz.

All of the venues are walkable from the centre of Perugia - the Arena Santa Giuliana is the furthest which is around a 15 minute walk away.

Carlo Pangotta above left on stage at Umbria

Pagnotta is proud of the festivals’ history which has hosted most of the jazz greats - Sarah Vaughan, Dizzie Gillespie, Stan Getz, Bill Evans, Art Blakey, Charlie Mingus, Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman, Sonny Rollins, Ahmad Jamal, Gary Burton, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Keith Jarrett & Diana Krall to name just a few.  I asked him if there was anyone who he had not managed to book and he said; ‘Aretha Franklin, and before closing my experience I would like to bring Stevie Wonder to Perugia’. 

Pagnotta has steered UJ through good times and bad - modern jazz festivals feature more genres than just jazz - this balancing act is a necessity of the commercial world and we should embrace it. Without the huge income that the non-jazz concerts bring to this festival (and many others) they simply would not happen.

Umbria Jazz lasts 10 days and runs from the 7-16 July where on the main stage are: Bob Dylan, Stefano Bollani, Kyle Eastwood Symphonic with the Umbria Jazz Orchestra, Herbie Hancock, Brad Mehldau, Branford Marsalis, Rhiannon Giddens, Snarky Puppy, Ben Harper, Stewart Copeland “Police Deranged”, Paolo Conte, Mika, and Joe Bonamassa.

At the Morlacchi Theatre and the Galleria Nazionale Dell’Umbria; Kenny Barron, Enrico Rava and Fred Hersch, Bill Frisell, Samara Joy, Miguel Zenón, Brandee Younger, Danilo Perez, Marc Ribot, David Virelles, Nduduzo Makhathini, Paolo Fresu, Gianluca Petrella, Fabrizio Bosso, Flavio Boltro, Stefano Di Battista, Enrico Pierannunzi, Danilo Rea, Rita Marcotulli, Dado Moroni and more.

In 2006 I said to my partner Mary ‘We should do Umbria Jazz at least once’, this year will be our 17th festival and rather like Pagnotta we have no intention of stopping anytime soon!

Ryanair fly direct to Perugia from London or you can fly to Rome and transfer by bus to Perugia.