Jaffa Jazz Fest carries on for its 10th edition despite cancelations

Bobby Martinez is due to drop by soon. That may not be the most remarkable item of news to hit the media in recent times, and, indeed, Martinez may not be the most instantly recognizable name on the global jazz scene, but the 63-year-old Philly-born saxophonist is primed and set to do his polished joy-inducing thing at this year’s International Jaffa Jazz Festival.

You don’t need a PhD to appreciate the rarity of offshore artists making the trip to these troubled parts nowadays, and Martinez expressed no concerns ahead of his gigs at ZOA House in Tel Aviv spread across all three days of the forthcoming edition – the ninth to date.

The saxman, who has been based in Madrid since 1998, only expressed unbridled excitement over his sophomore foray to Israel 12 years after his local debut. “That was with a Latin jazz band. There were several Cubans in the band,” he recalls. “It was a lot of fun.”

Martinez, his fellow music makers and the ZOA House audiences will, no doubt, have a good time at the festival, which founder, musical director, and noted reedman and educator Amikam Kimmelman has put together against challenging odds.

Besides Martinez the three-day roster was due to feature artists from Italy, France, Thailand, Poland, Romania and Austria. Sadly, all canceled due to security concerns – all, that is, except for Martinez, who will be joined by around 40 homegrown musicians across a range of styles.

As usual, Kimmelman has gone for a tribute line of programming attack.

Over the years the work of jazz totems, such as Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and John Coltrane, has provided the anchor for the festival shows. 

This year’s outing revisits more contemporary, commercial numbers by some of the biggest names in pop and rock of the 1960s and 1970s, including Lou Reed and Kate Bush.

Reed’s groundbreaking output gets a salute at the Walk on the Wild Side concert, on October 18 (7 p.m.). Bush came to prominence as a teenager in the late 1970s with her anthemic “Wuthering Heights.” That and other hits from her long, glittering career will be given a jazzy twist or two by a sextet that includes pianist Katia Toobool, drummer Roy Oliel, and percussionist Rony Irwyn. 

With Bush’s singular vocal range as a singular sonic base, that should leave the band with plenty of room for stylistic maneuver when they take the stage for the early slot on October 18 (2 p.m.).

MARTINEZ’S PRINCIPAL contribution to the entertainment takes place on October 18 (9:30 p.m.), as he and his six sidemen dig into some of the timeless charts written by lauded singer-songwriter Carole King.

King’s best known album, Tapestry, came out in 1971 and, back then, was a staple of the soundtrack of many a teenager – myself included – and twentysomethings. Cuts off the multi-Grammy award-winning record will feature prominently in the Martinez show.

Ready to break new ground

The saxophonist says he is up for breaking new ground and deconstructing and refashioning some of King’s numbers. “It just so happens that I liked Carole King’s music when I was young. It was always relaxing for me.” Hence the gig theme. “When Amikam gave me a list of people I’d like to tribute, when I saw Carole King’s name I just went for that.”

For Martinez it is more about the quality of the material than the specific genre or style.

“I’m not one of those jazz buffs that only play and play jazz. I listen to anything that’s good,” he declares.

No doubt Ellington would have approved. The great composer-pianist once famously observed that “there are only two kinds of music – good music and the other kind.”

If the spiritual preparatory preamble to the show is anything to go by, things should pan out just fine for all concerned. “I did some horn arrangements of the songs and stuff, so I think it’s going to be a fun concert.” Sounds good.

In fact, Martinez heads over here with considerable artistic and cultural baggage, some of which is eminently pertinent, on various musical and personal fronts.

“I was born in Philadelphia, with Cuban parents,” he says. The latter informs much of how the saxman goes about his writing, arranging, and performing business. “I gave the songs a little Latin tinge,” he chuckles. King, were she to turn up at ZOA House, would probably not have a problem with that.

Sometimes jazz artists start out with a familiar musical phrase or two and then stray far and wide from the original sonic anchor, to the point that it is difficult to equate the improvisational pursuit with the musical core. That is not the Martinez way. “I could have done a million things with Carole King’s music, but I didn’t want to go overboard. Her hits are so famous, and her songs are so good, there’s no reason to change too much.”

That should suit jazz fans and folks who simply dig King’s yesteryear oeuvre alike. “I wanted the public to recognize her music, rather than saying ‘yeah, I know it’s Carole King’s music, but it sounds a little strange.’ People can be a little picky when it comes to that.” That sits well with the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ ethos. “If something’s good, why should you start screwing around with it?” Martinez sagaciously notes.

Martinez also has the necessary pop credentials for the Jaffa Jazz exercise. “I’ve done a lot of pop gigs, for sure, mostly recordings.” That primarily refers to work with American Latin-based pop group Miami Sounds Machine, which had a string of hits from the mid-1970s through to the late eighties. That helped Martinez move swiftly along his artistic learning curve in his formative years. “I was a kid – maybe 16 or 17 – back then. Then I left the band because I wanted to do my jazz thing. 

At that point I was in a group called Wave, which was a jazz fusion band.”

All of that, naturally, filters through where Martinez is at today, both as an artist and a person. Betwixt the musical junctures in our telephone chat from his Madrid home, Martinez dropped a surprising bio item. “I came here because I have family in northern Spain. My grandfather was from Galicia, and he was a Sephardic Jew. I have a little Jewish in my blood, for sure,” he laughs.

That, and his multifarious musical grounding, augur well for Martinez’s slots at the festival, which also have him supporting the efforts of some of his fellow offshore guests. 

A little pop, rock, jazz – Jewish-inflected and otherwise – should go down really well here and, hopefully, help to buck up our spirits.

Other jazzy tributes across the three days include nods to Sting, Billy Joel, Joni Mitchell, John Lennon, Brazilian music and reggae icon Bob Marley, as well as late great Israeli troubadour Meir Ariel.

For tickets and more information: https://www.israel-live-concerts.com