BAKU JAZZ FESTIVAL - 2004

Baku, April 2, 2004

WHAT:
It's that time of year again when Jazz is the buzz word around town!
American Voices and the Baku Jazz Center is bringing 4 days of festival concerts to Baku from April 8th - 11th at the Republican Palace named after Heydar Aliyev.

WHO:
Headline artist is a breakdancing group from Houston, Texas, USA, 'Havikoro'. Already known in the region for their performances in Kiev and Moscow, Havikoro will be in Baku next week giving workshops in breakdancing. Havikoro are performing with the Baku Big Band on April 9th and their own show on April 10th at the Republican Palace. Tickets available at the Republican Palace Box office. The week of workshops will be rounded off with a breakdance competition at 1033 Night Club on Sunday at 7pm.

OLD AND NEW FACES:
There are two familiar faces returning to the festival this year; drummer Chris Strik from Amina Figarova group (from two years ago) will be performing with Emil Ibrahimoglu Trio on April 9th, and Werner Englert will be back directing the Baku Big Band on the same night. Werner will also be performing with his group Sax Machine on April 10th. A new face to Baku is Kerem Gorsev from Turkey performing with his trio on April 9th.

Azeri musicians will be opening and closing the festival concerts at the Republican Palace with respected jazz names performing their new programmes such as Jamil Amirov, Bari Bakh, Bakustic Jazz, Rain Sultanov as well as new groups such as Anar Yusefov Trio. Both the opening concert on April 8th and Grand Finale concert on April 11th promise an entertaining evening of Azeri jazz!

WHERE:
Festival concerts are on April 8 - 11 at 7 p.m.-9:30 p.m. at the Republican Palace named after Heydar Aliyev and tickets are available 10.000 - 50.000 AZM from the palace box office.

Two Charity events benefiting United Aid for Azerbaijan:
Wednesday 7th, 7pm-9pm at Karavan Jazz Club ($10) Call 928 082
Sunday 11th Breakdance Competition with Havikoro and local rap group Dayirman, 7pm at 1033 Hyatt, ($10) call 972 519

For Media people: Jazz Festival press conference will be held on April 3 at 12 noon at Baku Jazz Center (19, Rashid Beybudov St.).

Contact Phone: 98 03 35/36 US Embassy Press Service; 97 25 19 or 055 794 3626 American Voices.