In mid-July, Alicante overflows with avant garde jazz at its Fijazz Festival, where both home grown musicians and musicians from all over the world gather together in the Alicante Regional Council Auditorium to offer their best compositions.
In its fourth year, this festival held in the city of Alicante grows in reputation and attendance year after year thanks to its avant garde programme. Composers of the calibre of Chick Corea, pianist and winner of 16 Grammy awards and trendsetter for over forty years, as well as the charismatic virtuoso Stanley Clark, one of jazz, fusion and funk's most important double-bass players, are some of the stars who have played at Fijazz Alicante in recent years.
Previous years have also seen new works from artists such as Dave Holland, renowned master of the genre and who has collaborated on many projects with masters such as Miles Davis, John Surman, John Mclaughlin, Thelonius Monk, Elvin Jones, Roy Haynes, Stan Getz and Gary Burton, amongst others. In his thirty year career at the forefront of jazz, Holland has won two Grammys and since 1999 has been chosen year after year as Best Double-bass Player in the DownBeat Critics Poll
Performances from Mike Stern and saxophonist Bill Evans, both nominated many times for Grammy awards, as well as artists who have collaborated with jazz and pop greats like Mick Jagger, Herbie Hancock, Stan Getz, Jaco Pastorius. Not forgetting the work of young Japanese jazz composer and pianist Hiromi, world renowned for her technical virtuosity and energetic performances.
With the charming city of Alicante as a backdrop, Fijazz is an unmissable event for lovers of jazz, fusion and music in general.
Of all the festive displays of Moors and Christians in the Community of Valencia, it may well be that the one that takes place in Dénia every year between the 13th and 16th of August is the most ancient, as it is referred to in documents that date as far back as the 16th century, to 1599 to be exact.
Altea's Castell de la l´Olla has been a tradition for over twenty years; a festival of light and gunpowder, which is unique in being the only festival in the world with a firework display at sea, with the pyrotechnics launched from 8 platforms each weighing 15 tonnes.
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