One of the most beloved events on the European festival circuit, Umbria Jazz, has just announced the lineup for its 45th edition, which will run from July 13 to 22, 2018. As usual, the fest will take place in the city of Perugia, Italy.
A celebration of Quincy Jones’ 85th birthday starts off the festival in the 5,000-capacity open-air Arena Santa Giuliana. In addition to Jones himself, performers will include Erykah Badu, Patti Austin, Take 6, Ivan Lins, Alberto Rodriguez, Peditro Martinez, Paolo Fresu and the Umbria Jazz Orchestra conducted by John Clayton.
From there, the programming grows more eclectic, with headlining appearances by a number of Brazilian artists—including Gilberto Gil, Margareth Menezes, Caetano Veloso and Os Mutantes—along with less jazz-oriented acts like Massive Attack, the Chainsmokers, David Byrne and Shaggy. Performers that may be of particular interest to JT readers are listed below:
Pat Metheny Quartet, Kyle Eastwood Quintet, Melody Gardot, Gregory Porter’s “Nat King Cole and Me” tribute with the UJ Orchestra conducted by Vince Mendoza, Joey Alexander Trio, Igor Butman and the Moscow Jazz Orchestra, Roy Hargrove Quintet, Mingus Big Band, Billy Hart Quartet with Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau Trio, Terence Blanchard E-Collective, Kurt Elling with the Marquis Hill Quintet, Vijay Iyer Sextet, Anat Cohen and Marcello Goncalves, Ethan Iverson (solo) and Danilo Rea (solo).
For more information on this year’s festival, visit its official website.
Read JazzTimes’ review of last year’s Umbria Jazz.
Originally Published
