Herbie Hancock and Samara Joy hit the highs at Umbria Jazz Festival 2023

The first Umbria Jazz Festival in August 1973 was a free event featuring Weather Report, The Sun Ra Orchestra, The Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Big Band & Dee Dee Bridgewater among many others. Artistic Director Carlo Pagnotta set the bar high from the beginning and over the ensuing 50 years has ensured that high quality has never faltered. 

Things have changed over time - the once free festival is now big business and this year ticket sales reached a whopping €2.3 million from the sale of 40,000 tickets. The once purely jazz festival now has a wider musical remit - essential to not just stay alive but to grow and attract a new and undoubtably younger audience. To keep the idea of the original ‘no ticket required’ philosophy alive there were also 130 free concerts played this year.

There is no denying the fact that during the 10 days of Umbria Jazz, Perugia is the most buzzing city in Italy – as thousands of people not just from Europe but from across the world congregate to be part of this iconic festival.

Corsa Vanucci at night - photo by Tim Dickeson

Perugia has so much going for it apart from Umbria Jazz - the city has countless restaurants, wine bars, coffee shops and Pizzerias not to mention the 2,600 years’ worth of history that surrounds you as you wander around.

To be on the Corsa Vannucci (the main street that runs the length of this hill town) when the two main free stages are in operation - one at either end - is an unforgettable experience and turns this place into the biggest street party you can imagine.

The main stage at Umbria Jazz is the Arena Santa Giuliana - the headline acts play here every night around 9pm and this year the festival was opened by Bob Dylan playing his ‘Rough & Rowdy Ways’ material - a fitting opening as Dylan’s own path through the last 50 years is not too dissimilar to that of the festival in many ways.

In the arena only 4 nights out of 10 were what you would describe as ‘Jazz’ and they featured double bills of Stefano Bollani (solo piano) and the Kyle Eastwood Symphonic, Somi, Brad Mehldau Trio and the Braford Marsalis Quartet, plus Rhiannon Giddens and Snarky Puppy.

Branford Marsalis Quartet - photo by Tim Dickeson

While not a huge fan of seeing jazz in stadium sized venues, the best performers always bring out the best in a big audience.  Piano star Mehldau captivated the audience playing a beautiful set with regulars Larry Grenadier (bass) and Jeff Ballard (drums). Always a joy to listen to Mehldau seems much happier these days - his version of Toninho Horta’s ‘Aquelas Coisas Todas’ was sublime. Following this, US sax don Marsalis – playing with his long standing and hugely acclaimed Quartet with Joey Calderazzo (piano), Eric Revis (bass) and Justin Faulkner (drums) – was brilliant. Calderazzo is one of my favourite pianists - he is a larger than life character and is as good as anyone at hammering out a tune. Marsalis is the boss but the band love to play - on the last number ‘My Bucket’s got a Hole In It’ the audience sung the chorus with Revis spinning his bass, Calderazzo enjoying the moment - great fun and a wonderful scene.

Snarky Puppy were excellent - their music suits large venues like this, as does Herbie Hancock, who was playing a ‘greatest hits’ show. At 83 Hancock shows that he still has the magic and with Lionel Loueke and Terence Blanchard in the band, the music is as relevant and thrilling in this concert as ever.

The main jazz programme at the festival is to be found in two other venues - the Teatro Morlacchi and the Sala Podiani in the National Gallery of Umbria.  The Sala Podiani features two shows per day and the Morlacchi one show at 5pm and if there is a ‘pop’ act in the arena an extra show is laid on at 9.30pm.

The Sala Podiani concerts featured heavily on Italian musicians with Danilo Rea, Dado Moroni, Enrico Pieranunzi and Rita Marcotulli all playing solo piano. There were also solo sets from Cuban pianist David Virelles and guitarist Marc Ribot - an enthralling set featuring everything from Coltrane to The Beatles.

The best place of all to see and hear jazz is the wonderful Teatro Morlacchi - a grand Italian theatre with stalls on the ground floor and intimate boxes on five floors.

An excellent mix of music was presented at there included concerts from Paolo Fresu (featuring Daniele Di Bonaventura) the Fabrizio Bosso Quartet, Kenny Barron trio, Bill Frisell4  and the Danilo Pérez Trio with John Patitucci and Adam Cruz who dedicated their excellent show to Wayne Shorter.

Three shows at this theatre deserve special mention. Trombone player Gianluca Petrella has long blurred the lines between jazz, electronic and pop. Petrella’s Cosmic Renaissance project is a great example of how he blends these styles into something really cool that has a much wider appeal than just the jazz audience but crucially without alienating them.

The duo of Enrico Rava and Fred Hersch was one of my favourites at this year’s festival. Neither player has anything to prove, but they still have much to say and the concert was a beautiful conversation between the two friends. Rava’s playing was gentle and yearning and Hersch, either soloing or accompanying was exquisite.

Samara Joy on song - Photo by Tim Dickeson

The last show in the theatre was also one of the most memorable. Samara Joy played here in 2021 when she was an unknown singer playing several gigs in the Hotel Brufani as a guest with the Emmet Cohen trio.  Since then, she has made a big impression both in the US and in Europe. Joy is now a double Grammy winner and is very much in demand. In three short years she has matured into a near world class performer - she has a huge vocal range (she trained as an opera singer) and has effortless control as she soars up and down the octaves.

Her choice of material is diverse and not just drawn from the Great American Songbook, but did include songs by Fats Navarro and Monk. Her version of Stevie Wonder’s ‘Lately’, a well-covered song, is brilliant and original, as is her version of Nancy Wilson’s ‘Guess What I Saw Today’.  Another huge asset is her rapport with the audience - she comes across as such a warm person and is one of those singers that makes you feel she is singing just to you. The two standing ovations at the end of her concert were perfectly justified.

It is hard work these days keeping a big jazz festival both relevant and solvent - Umbria Jazz has a long history and has learned lessons over the past 50 years. Carlo Pagnotta has been at the forefront of this festival all this time and there are no signs of him stepping down just yet.  Pagnotta has got UJ in the perfect position as the number one festival in Italy and ready for the future with the next generation of jazz fans.