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| Jazz singer, Eva Cortes, who resides in Spain, will be performing in Providence on Friday, July 1, 2011 in Providence, RI. I met Cortes two years ago at Jazzaldia, an annual jazz festival in Northern Spain. |
PROVIDENCE, RI - It was about two years ago and an international adventure was ahead of me. I was visiting my brother who was living in Madrid, Spain, then I was returning to a place I discovered as a teenager - an annual jazz festival held in San Sebastian, a seaside city in Northern Spain.
This time around, I was visiting "on assignment" with a press pass and access to performers, for I was interviewing women for Venus Sings Radio, the program I do once a month as part of Voices of Women. My primary target was Esperanza Spalding, a then-rising (and much more known today) star in Jazz who was also performing that summer at the annual Jazz Festival in Newport. But as I prepared for my trip, I came across two other women who were going to be performing, who caught my attention musically: Melissa Laveaux, a Haitian singer with a unique sound who had lived in Montreal before moving to Europe; and Eva Cortes, a Honduran-born singer raised primarily in Sevilla, Spain whose jazz sound was rich and filled with familiar stylings like harmonica-playing, the use of the stand-up bass, and even skatting if you've seen her live.
My interview with Cortes was interesting, fun, and comprehensive as we discussed everything from how she writes her music to how she joined the music scene in Madrid. And her performance was captivating, melodic, and vibrant, with her soulful singing and the musical mastery of her bandmates.
Two years later I'm happy to report that we've kept in touch, and we've taken our relationship to the next step...
Catch Eva Cortes live in Providence as part of her "With a Little Help From My Friends Tour" on Friday, July 1, 2011 at Providence Inner City Arts' Roots Cafe, 276 Westminster Street in downtown Providence. For updates and more information keep following VenusSings.com, call 401-217-9680, or visit www.rootscafeprovidence.com.
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Additional links from my Jazzaldia visit and festival coverage:
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