Miami Jazz Fest gets ready to launch in November

By Fernando Gonzalez | Special to Miami.com7/25/2012

Pianist Monty Alexander, Brazilian guitar jazzTrio Da Paz, Brazilian singer Maucha Adnet , guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli, saxophonist Jesse Jones and singer Giacomo Gates are just some of the headliners announced for the first edition of the Miami Jazz Fest, scheduled for Nov. 17-18 at the Klipsch Amphitheater at Bayfront Park in Miami.

"There are many music festivals that call themselves 'Jazz' festivals but most of them are not pure jazz. They have blues, rock, pop, whatever and we wanted to take it back, make it old-school and have pure jazz," says Miami Jazz Festival founder and producer, Carmen J. Cartiglia.

“On Saturday night we’ll have the sound of jazz from Brazil, and on Sunday we’ll have jazz from different styles.”

As the President and CEO of Carich Expos, a company that produces and manages trade shows and exhibits, Cartiglia has decades of experience in production, “just not in the entertainment industry.”

After noting the quality of the music schools in the area and recent encouraging signs of having more venues offering jazz, Cartiglia, who moved from Connecticut to South Florida three years ago, sounds confident at the prospects of establishing a
jazz festival in Miami.

“Since I moved here I’ve wanted to do something that was local and I could enjoy doing, and music has always been a big part of my life, especially jazz,” says Cartiglia. “So realizing that Miami seems to have a music festival every other weekend but no jazz I saw an opening. I thought ‘Let’s take advantage of it and let's do what we can do to bring some pure, good, solid straight ahead jazz to Miami.’”

Underscoring his commitment, Cartiglia says he has Bayfront Park reserved for the weekend before Thanksgiving for the next five years.

“We are making this an annual event and we’ll make this a success,” he says. “There is no doubt in my mind.”

For more information visit miamijazzfest.com