Chick Korea on my mind
Charles ‘City’ Gatt

Charles ‘City’ Gatt put together the first edition of the Malta Jazz Festival (1991) in half a day. The seasoned jazz musician fondly recalls how 23 years ago, Dr Michael Frendo, then Parliamentary Secretary for Culture and the Arts, had approached him and asked him to organise a jazz festival. Time was pressing but this was something Gatt had always wanted to do.

Still incredulous, Gatt jumped at the opportunity and, using his strong network of agents and musicians, including links at the renowned Berklee College of Music in Boston, the US, where he had studied, he soon had the whole network going.

Naturally, the project took somewhat more than half a day to organise but the line-up had been set in that small space of time and the ingredients for a successful festival had been secured including legends such as US jazz drummer Elvin Jones, American jazz and fusion pianist, keyboardist and composer Chick Corea and French jazz pianist Michel Petrucciani.

The jazz musician drew from his experience organising a single day of jazz which used to form part of what was then Malta Fest as well as what he had seen in other small festivals abroad such as in Messina.

“It was the best we ever had,” he remembers. The seeds had been sown and he continued to organise the festival for another 15 years.

What did he learn throughout his long stint organising the festival?

“The thing about it is to get to know the audience. It’s important to mix the heavy with the light – get music for the purists and a little bit for those who know nothing about jazz. In this way, you’re encouraging them to return the following year,” he explains.

He reminisces about successful guests such as American jazz tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson and American jazz-fusion and Latin jazz guitarist, composer and record producer Al di Meola. The latter attracted a whopping 4,000-strong audience back in 1993.

Looking back on his successful stint holding the reins of the jazz festival, Gatt has no regrets.

“We had such a good time,” he muses.

This year, he will be performing at the Malta Jazz Festival with his vibraphone quintet. What’s it like to be on the performing side?

“When I’m organising I don’t want to think about playing,” he confides. “It’s too complicated. But when I’m not organising I see the festival better. Now I know how much people enjoy it.”

He admits that playing is a challenge for him – although he has performed with pianist Claudio Angeleri, he will only perform with the whole ensemble some two days before playing life at the festival.

Gatt is looking forward to this year’s festival which boasts a shining line-up including the likes of the Robert Glasper Experiment and multiple award-winning artist Vijay Iyer.

Jazz, he notes, is experiencing a new renaissance. There are some young talented musicians who are very serious about jazz. Gatt notes how the internet has revolutionalised the jazz world as people can educate themselves by listening to concerts abroad without having to travel. He admits that nothing, of course, beats listening to a musician live.

The Malta Jazz Festival boasts a strong audience every year. What advice does Gatt offer on making the festival stronger.

The key, he says, is to take the festival out of Valletta in order to educate people. In fact, this year the fringe festival is bigger than ever before.

“It’s a slow process,” he says, “but people need to be educated to appreciate what they are listening to. That’s the only way it can be done.”

The Malta Jazz Festival is being held at Ta’ Liesse, Valletta, from July 18-20. For more information visit www.maltajazzfestival.org.

He’s got rhythm
Wayne Marshall

Conductor, virtuoso organist and solo pianist Wayne Marshall returns for the third time to direct the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra in the closing concert of the Malta Arts Festival. He will perform Gershwin’s all-time favourite Rhapsody in Blue. The concert includes Bernstein’s Candide Overture and Suite and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 in E minor op. 64.

For Rhapsody in Blue, he will be both directing and performing. How does one do both simultaneously?

“I’ve been directing and playing Gershwin for a very long time so it’s very straightforward for me,” he reveals.

He explains how he has a special way of working with the orchestra, which in a way becomes a sort of large chamberensemble.

“I can’t conduct physically,” he confides, “so we rehearse tempi and know that there are certain things to look out for. I can make gestures with my head or with one hand. Sometimes I miss various passages which I should be playing with the orchestra but which are least important. There’s a lot of compromising.”

In Rhapsody in Blue, Marshall says there are two moments which are especially delicate and which have to be rehearsed very well, pointing out how he “sort of cheats a bit”. However, certain key members of the orchestra really have to know what they are doing because they take over conducting for a while.

We discuss his role as both pianist and conductor in this concert but Malta’s overall cultural needs and lacunae inadvertently creep into the conversation. Marshall is artistic director of Valletta 2018 and naturally takes into consideration the development of Malta’s cultural scene when discussing local performances. He admits that culture in Malta is not on the same level it is in other parts of Europe and there is still a lot to be done to educate Maltese audiences.

He explains the significance of choosing a repertoire that is good and popular.

“To have a repertoire which is popular for the audience is important. I can’t assume people know what they are going to listen to so I usually speak to the audience and explain – it usually helps and it’s good to at least inform the audience and share my feelings and knowledge about music.”

Marshall admits that decisions are also heavily influenced by resources or lack of. For example, extra musicians which may be needed work part-time and will not always be available for rehearsals. He likes to have “101 per cent attendance at rehearsals. It’s just what I’m used to when I’m travelling abroad”. Discussing performing spaces, Marshall explains how he prefers to perform indoors where there are no distractions like the weather or outside noises.

“In a proper concert hall environment at least people are focused,” he comments.

Although he finds it “fantastic to call Malta home,” Marshall laments that so much is lacking in terms of cultural institutions, venues, museums. What we lack is a proper performing space and now that Valletta is going to be the 2018 European Capital of Culture, establishing one must be the first priority.

“Having a place with the right facilities where people can perform regularly would perhaps enable the development of cultural performances,” he explains.

Another key factor to V18, and to any show for that matter, is publicity. Marshall feels there has to be a greater emphasis on communication and marketing.

Why should people come to watch his performance?

“It’s not just my performance they should come to,” he comments. “The Malta Arts Festival is a very important event in Malta’s cultural scene and all the performances are important. Publicity is the key.”

The Malta Arts Festival opens on June 30 and closes with Wayne Marshall’s concert on July 14. For more information visit www.maltaartsfestival.org.