The Firenze Jazz Festival is bringing memorable music to spectacular venues all over the city until September 15. The last few days of events sees concerts such as Brass E-volution: The Sweet Life Society, and Ottoni Animati with special guest at piazza del Carmine on September 13. Francesco Bearzatti, Furio Di Castri, Magalí Sare and Manel Fortià, TUN feat. DUB FX and more follow, with free admission for the final party in piazza del Carmine. Francesco Astore, artistic director of the Firenze Jazz Festival, explains more.
Coming from a city like Turin, what differences have you noticed in the Tuscan capital regarding the culture and music scene?
Turin has changed a lot over the years, it has had moments of great liveliness, but it has gone through a difficult period with the closure of the Murazzi and the pandemic. Florence, on the other hand, has opened new spaces and beautiful locations and has an international vocation that attracts great artists. The history and identity of Florence are recognized throughout the world, and this makes it a very interesting destination from a musical point of view.
What’s the relationship between the festival and the community? How does the Florentine public relate to this type of event?
The Florentine public has welcomed and embraced the festival, they feel it’s theirs. Even when the weather, like in this edition, is a bit unpredictable, the public has always been there and sustained us. Florence loves culture, and you can feel that. When cultural activities are held, the city snaps to attention. I’ve got so many funny anecdotes. Once, for example, there was a plumbing problem at our venue in piazza del Carmine, and the people of Florence, the people of Oltrarno, started looking for plumbers on the street until they found one and brought him to us! It’s a community that helps each other, becoming part of the festival experience.
Rumba De Bodas
Furio di Castri
Jazz Brunch Ruffino – Magali Sare, Manel Fortia
The Sweet Life Society band
TUN Torino Unlimited Noise feat. Dub FX
What kind of collaboration is established with institutional bodies and private partners?
The relationship with institutional bodies and partners is fundamental. It’s the effort of a network that’s complex to develop but that we have managed to carry forward. We had a format that was well-tested in Turin, and here it has worked well with the support of historic venues and companies like Partesa and Ruffino. It’s nice to see how they do not limit themselves to providing financial support but actively participate, also contributing ideas and affection for the festival. The institutions are also a support: Estate Fiorentina makes a fundamental contribution to the festival. From our point of view, the festival belongs to the city, it’s not a private project.
What’s the creative process that gives life to the programme every year? Is it also designed for an international audience?
The programme is designed for both a national and international audience because jazz is a global language. The creative process balances big international stars with lesser-known but very good musicians. We try to be inclusive, paying attention to intergenerationality and, particularly in this edition, to the presence of female performers. We are approaching the last weekend of the Firenze Jazz Festival in piazza del Carmine, which is a sort of mini-festival within the festival. Piazza del Carmine is the main stage and represents the final moments of the festival, but it is part of a larger system of stages. It’s essentially a big party, with a programme that unites big artists and more hybrid performances, addressing different audiences and bringing them to discover new styles and artists. The festival aims to be a tool that brings you to know musicians, artists, melodies and new styles that you would never know otherwise.
What’s the future of jazz in a city like Florence? Is there a turnover of audiences, or is it a genre that only attracts a medium-to-high age group? In this edition (and not for the first time), we’ve seen a blending with other genres. Is this with the intention of trying to reach new audiences?
A new audience is reached when you decide to dialogue with it. Jazz was born from rupture and improvisation, and we try to keep this nature alive by also involving contemporary performers that play techno-jazz like TUN or artists who bring interpretations, such as Fulvio Di Castri with Frank Zappa. All this helps you understand how jazz is truly a creative force that leads you to discover many roads and many different schools that all work together.
