The Panama Jazz Festival was founded in September 2003 by pianist and Grammy winner Danilo Pérez.

History

Perez founded the festival with the intent to improve people's lives through the shared experience of music. After almost 20 years, the Panama Jazz Festival has become a cultural tourism attraction with more than 500,000 people from various latitudes visiting. The festival is produced by a team of 2 directors (Patricia Zarate, Executive Director and Danilo Perez, Artistic Director), 70 coordinators, 500 volunteers, 300 national and international musicians, and about 200 collaborators from all sectors of Panama. The festival provides a week of master classes by musicians from Berklee College of Music, Berklee Global Jazz Institute, and the New England Conservatory. Other institutions that have participated in the festival include the Golandsky Institute, Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, Sienna Jazz Foundation, Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, New York Jazz Academy, and the Paris Conservatory. Musicians who have attended the festival include Kenny Barron, Rubén Blades, Terri Lyne Carrington, Billy Cobham, Jack DeJohnette, Nnenna Freelon, Herbie Hancock, Stanley Jordan, Joe Lovano, Ellis Marsalis Jr., John Patitucci, Dianne Reeves, Wayne Shorter, Esperanza Spalding, Mike Stern, Chucho Valdés, Randy Weston, and Lizz Wright. Invited musicians teach master classes where students from Latin America and the world come together to learn from the international masters of jazz. Among the musicians who have given lectures are Kenny Barron, Brian Blade, Ran Blake, Terri Lyne Carrington, Regina Carter, Santi Debriano, Jack DeJohnette, Nnenna Freelon, Tia Fuller, Eddie Gómez, Craig Handy, Charlie Hunter, Stanley Jordan, Joe Lovano, John Patitucci, Marco Pignataro, Kurt Rosenwinkel, David Sanchez, Wayne Shorter, Janis Siegel, Ben Street, Steve Turre, Chucho Valdés, and Randy Weston. The festival supports the year-round educational programs of Danilo Perez Foundation, which brings art and music to children from all socio-economic status in the Republic of Panama. The idea for the Danilo Perez Foundation originated in the 1965 when Danilo Perez Urriola (father of the pianist) started his educational programs with children of poverty in Panama and created an elementary and high school curriculum where all classes were taught through improvisation, composition, and the performance of music. Since 2009, chilean saxophonist and music therapist Patricia Zarate de Perez has directed the festival implementing new technology, expanding national and international collaborations, systematizing all aspects of the production of the festival, transforming the event into a self sustainable institution.

Recordings

Panama Suite (2006) was recorded with students and faculty of Berklee College of Music and the New England Conservatory to commemorate five years of the Panama Jazz Festival. All tracks were composed and directed by Danilo Perez and produced by Billy Herron and Berklee College of Music.

Associated schools and organizations

Clinics" that take place during the Festival

An important part of the festival is musical education, it consists of all the invited artists having master classes called "Musical Clinics", where students from all over Latin America and the world come together to learn from International Jazz teachers. Among the international artists who have given lectures are Wayne Shorter, Chucho Valdés, Jack De Johnette, John Patitucci, Joe Lovano, Randy Weston, Brian Blade, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Nnenna Freelon, Kenny Barron, Marco Pignataro, Eddie Gómez, Regina Carter, Steve Turre, Stanley Jordan, Janis Siegel, David Sánchez, Charlie Hunter, Tia Fuller, and many more. The Jazz Festival has also offered master classes in Panamanian Folklore, dance, classical music groups (with renowned national and international musicians and the best of the New England Conservatory of Music, thanks to the Berklee College of Music Production and Engineering Department), and many other topics.

International artists

National artists

Music therapy symposium

The Music Therapy Symposium was founded in January 2013 by Chilean saxophonist, music therapist and executive director of the Panama Jazz Festival Patricia Zarate. The mission of the Latin American Symposium on Music Therapy is the dissemination of the theory and practice of music therapy in Latin America.

Awards and honors