The house was rocking as Rita Coolidge took the stage and the Cubans all sang along to Coolidge's AM-radio hits. Havana Jam '79 is a documentary in the making about the three-day music festival that took place in Havana, Cuba, on 2–4 March 1979. A few months later, Irakere won their first Grammy with the album Irakere, recorded at their Montreux Jazz Festival and Newport Jazz Festival performances, and Lundvall wanted to try his luck with other Cuban bands too. $69.43: $41.07: Vinyl, January 1, 1979 "Please retry" — — Representing the U.S. would be Billy Joel, Stephen Stills, Weather Report, Kris Kristofferson with Rita Coolidge, the Fania All-Stars and the CBS Jazz All-Stars. The second group, Orquesta Aragón, played some of the most dynamic music of the festival, utilizing its charanga sound of violins, cello, flute and rhythm section. Sure! I opened a page on Facebook and a channel on YouTube and published the trailer that I made in Cuba in 2009, saying that I was a Cuban filmmaker who was trying to locate American musicians who had participated in Havana Jam. It was precisely the Beatles Colloquiums that opened doors to the world of literature for me. Rave reviews led to an invitation from the prestigious Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. I’ve been blessed with all these collaborations. Hence, when the Fania All-Stars took the stage the house was half empty, yet the excitement of this ensemble-featuring practically every top name in salsa still captured the spirit of the audience. Of course, the country tried to follow a Soviet line and everything having to do with the U.S. was considered bad and decadent. It was sponsored by Bruce Lundvall, the president of Columbia Records, Jerry Masucci, the president of Fania Records, and the Cuban Ministry of Culture. I was still living in Cuba, and Peter gave me the opportunity to see behind-the-scenes shots of musicians behaving like human beings, having fun at the beach, backstage, walking around Havana. My first collaborator was the Cuban Ministry of Culture. We had started a mutual collaboration a couple of years before. People who didn’t even know me trusted me with their original slides and documents. As I mentioned before, it was through the Beatles that I learned English faster than I did at school. But one of my biggest goals was to give my son the chance to make a future out of his life. Check out the video guidelines on Havana Jam '79. WikiProject Film (Rated Stub-class) This article is within the scope of WikiProject Film. Many young people were incarcerated or expelled from schools after being labeled as “ideological diversionists,” because they fancied American culture. It’s no small feat as you work tirelessly to ensure this documentary gains momentum and gets out to the masses. Sign-up for free to be in the know of new content, giveaways & more. Together, they made a bit of history there. Your email address will not be published. Your email address will not be published. How did you go about securing all those iconic images that were taken during the event to now being part of your own personal possessions? The music festival, spanning the course of three days in March of that year, would unite some of the industry’s most renowned artists from both the United States and Cuba in concert. So, when it was time for me to decide what to study in college right after high school, I picked English. And at the same time, I’m paying my respects to Bruce Lundvall (the organizer of Havana Jam), who made it all happen and to those who were there and are no longer with us. So they all agreed to set a date for the festival, spontaneously entitled Havana Jam. This is no small feat, and I will need all the help I can get. However, I didn’t do this alone. I’m about to pitch a crowd-funding campaign to raise the funds to finish it. Then, when I moved to Miami, I contacted Bill Freston, who, in 1979, had been Bruce Lundvall’s personal assistant and confidante. By Sandra Castillo, FRENCH JUMPSUIT CREATOR LIKOBA LIGHTS UP FASHION RUNWAYS FROM NY TO PARIS by Nick Christophers, LONG ISLAND ROCKER JOE COSS DEBUTS NEW ALBUM “GRAVITY IS ELECTROMAGNETIC” by Nick Christophers, THE SMOLDERING, SEDUCTIVE SLOW BURN OF ALEXANDER BEDRIA By Sandra Castillo, ESTABLISHED ACTRESS FROM ITALY MAKING MAJOR IN ROADS IN NEW YORK by Nick Christophers, CYAN IS THE COLOR OF THEIR UNIVERSE & THE MUSIC OF THEIR SOULS By Sandra Castillo, RG MAGAZINE | Really Great Magazine | San Diego • Los Angeles • New York • Fashion • Talent • Music. In 1977, U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Cuban President Fidel Castro started to loosen the political tension between the two countries and opened Interest Sections both in Havana and Washington, D.C.. Kristofferson performed first, singing many of his hit songs which were recognized by the audience. Stills gave a sampling of his various hits throughout the years, and then jumped into the audience with his remote control guitar and sang a salute to the audience entitled Cuba Al Fin. RG Magazine had the grand honor of speaking with renowned author and Beatles expert, Ernesto Juan Castellanos, who granted the publication access to his incredible backstory and what it was really like for him to grow up in a country governed by the iron fist of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. When and where were you born? Giselle Campos or better known as Giselle Lelux online is a fashion blogger, writer, designer and influencer. Beggin’ for Thread | Tiffany Rousso & Nate Ginnetty. Videos Subscribe to our Havana Jam 79 YouTube channel and stay tuned for more uploads. Keep in mind, it was not a public event, and I heard about it the week after, when a friend told me he had gone to a concert where one of the bands filled the stage and the front rows of seats with a weird, thick smoke. It’s amazing how much territory you’ve gained and covered while currently involved with the “Havana Jam ‘79” project. I learned the craft diving headfirst into the real world. The doctrine imposed on children back in the day was mostly about Che Guevara. As a finale, a third ensemble came onstage: Blythe, Jimmy Heath, Laws, Bobo, Richard Tee, Rodney Franklin, Eric Gale, John Lee and Gerry Brown. See all 5 formats and editions Hide other formats and editions. Vanguard filmmaker Ernesto Juan Castellanos has taken on the behemoth task to recapture the spark-and-magic of an era in Jazz and Rock n Roll history that bore witness to two nations -the U.S. and Cuba- separated by archaic thinking, fear and political strife, with his groundbreaking documentary, “Havana Jam ’79.” I had the exclusivity to be the first guy to see all that bunch of photos together. Their performance is captured on Ernesto Juan Castellanos's documentary Havana Jam '79. I cared more about children’s games than politics. MUSIC VIDEO. Featuring leader keyboardist Chucho Valdés, Irakere pulled out all stops. It’s been no easy task, believe me. Both veterans of major concert promotion, they knew the festival needed professional production of the highest caliber, and enlisted Showco (a Dallas-based concert production company) and Studio Instrument Rentals for the task. I also knew Rita Coolidge and Kris Kristofferson, and I associated Stephen Stills with Crosby, Stills and Nash. I opened a page on Facebook and a channel on YouTube and published the trailer that I made in Cuba in 2009, saying that I was a Cuban filmmaker who was trying to locate American musicians who had participated in Havana Jam. It was there where I developed my passion for news and documentaries. Getting him to tell me on camera his part of the story has been incredible. At this point in time, Lundvall was diligently "feeling out" select members of the Columbia artist roster, all of whom were honored to accept the invitation to perform in Cuba. In order to carry out the Herculean task of planning, Lundvall brought aboard Jock McLean and Phil Sandhaus, of Columbia's artists development department. I attended high school a bit far from my house, as there were no high schools in my neighborhood. It was incredible! I left behind my days as a writer and journalist. With the festival within grasp, other CBS Records personnel were summoned into the picture-rehearsals were set up for the CBS Jazz All-Stars, travel accommodations were made, equipment was rented, a wide cross-section of media was invited, and both recording and videotaping plans were confirmed. In the second interview, which was on camera, I brought my son, Dhani, along as my camera and lighting assistant. Weather Report was followed by two traditional Cuban ensembles of differing styles. With a real crisis in the music industry in the United States and the start of the salsa boom, in April 1978, CBS Records director, Bruce Lundvall, saw an open door to probe Cuban music and together with a group of the company's music enthusiasts made a four-day trip to Havana, where they were overwhelmed by the sound of Cuban music, but especially by Afro-Cuban jazz band Irakere, one of Cuba's most highly regarded and virtuoso musical acts. Amazing! Today, as we speak, I don’t know what’s going to happen. It was precisely my older brothers who opened that door for me. After a masterful percussion set, Cuba was treated to its first taste of rock 'n' roll by Stephen Stills. Havana Jam CD Sized Album Replica, Limited Edition, Live, Remastered. His father’s stories about Cuba made him fall in love with the island, since he was a kid. We spoke about many things, but the story of his dad living in Cuba, after many Jews had to flee Nazi Germany to save their lives, was narrated with great affection. And in 2007, I was part of the production team at the “Live Earth” concert in London. They gave me access to their photo archives. Although their set was limited to two selections, the assemblage was also well received. ... Cuba was willing to hold this festival, with concerts for three days. They jammed for about thirty minutes or so, and they moved from Cuban music to Classical to Jazz to Blues to Rock and Roll and, of course, a couple of Billy’s songs which my son didn’t know at the time. HAVANA JAM 79 ~ 2 Record LP Set cbs pc2 36053 Various (Artist) Format: Vinyl. I have collected a lot of stories, documents, video footage, music, and photos. I only regretted having missed Billy Joel. Another Havana Jam photographer, Benno Friedman, also mailed me his entire Havana Jam archives, hundreds of slides that had so much fungus on them that I had to fly to Havana and trust the cleaning job to my old friend and photographer, Julio Larramendi, who managed to recover them all and leave them in pristine condition. The Art and Soul of Timothy Link By Sandra Castillo, She Will Rock You…Maggy Simon Sings! The concert was running very late, and people began to leave the hall because of a midnight public transportation curfew. Jump to navigation Jump to search. Everyone talks about the Havana Jam with passion, and I’m pretty sure I’m helping tell the history that hasn’t been told properly. I left behind my accomplishments to live in a country where nobody knows me or my works. Jeff Pevar and Inger Nova Jorgensen playing Back to Me at the #StayHome #StaySafe #SaveLives Concert for Life Vol.1, which premiered 11 April 2020. That’s a hard question, as they were all good and had their own personal touch. Talk:Havana Jam '79. Like any other Cuban kid, I was indoctrinated from an early age. Of course, you could not buy American or British music in Cuban record stores, so an underground passing around of records developed very quickly, as I believe happened in other Soviet bloc countries. After months of talks, Lundvall managed to sign Irakere and in July the group traveled to New York to perform an unannounced guest set at the famed Newport Jazz Festival-New York. From being a fan, I eventually became the Beatles authority in Cuba, and the Beatles became a job to me. That was the fuel that kept me going and that proved just how important and historic this event was, and these people were trusting me with something so personal. View credits, reviews, tracks and shop for the 1979 Vinyl release of "Havana Jam 2" on Discogs. The stage was then turned over to the "once-in-a-life-time" Trio of Doom, including luminaries John McLaughlin, Jaco Pastorius and Tony Williams. The Cuban acts included Irakere, Pacho Alonso, Zaida Arrate, Elena Burke, Orquesta de Santiago de Cuba, Conjunto Yaguarimú, Frank Emilio Flynn, Juan Pablo Torres, Los Papines, Tata Güines, Cuban Percussion Ensemble, Sara González, Pablo Milanés, Manguaré, and Orquesta Aragón. He was then a sophomore student at Loyola University New Orleans, majoring in violin performance. He has studied the violin since he was six-years-old and pursuing his violin studies was his top priority when we came to the United States, the land of opportunities, where the sky’s the limit. Backstage, Weather Report's members (Joe Zawinul, Wayne Shorter, Jaco Pastorius and Peter Erskine) were later congratulated by an assortment of Cuban musicians and fans, most of whom were familiar with the group's repertoire through the aid of Florida radio, mostly AM stations such as WQAM, WGBS, WKWF and WLCY. Moving to the U.S. six years ago has been one of the greatest challenges of my life. The tunes were interspersed with Kris's well-meaning stabs at speaking Spanish. [citation needed] Then came the festival's finale, Billy Joel. View credits, reviews, tracks and shop for the 1979 Vinyl release of "Havana Jam" on Discogs. The story of the celebration of the historic three-day Havana Jam festival at the Karl Marx Theatre, in Havana, Cuba, from March 2-4, 1979. Irakere closed the show, spurred on by the high energy audience in the theater. How familiar were you with the American artists who performed at the Karl Marx Theatre in Cuba on March 2-4, 1979? March 2 through 4, 1979, were the days earmarked for this historical step toward establishing a cultural exchange between the two enemy nations. I was born on February 14, 1963 in Regla, a small but very popular town in Havana, Cuba. Years later, while shooting the documentary, I learned he was talking about Weather Report. Looking back on your beginnings, what was it personally like for you to grow up in a country defined by its communist origins? Here, I had to start a life totally from scratch. I wrote those four books about the band and a number of stories in Cuban magazines and newspapers. Required fields are marked *. Learn how and when to remove these template messages, Learn how and when to remove this template message, "Havana Jam - Various Artists | Songs, Reviews, Credits", "Rare Photos: Billy Joel at Havana Jam 1979", https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiNejMMGc94, http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20073162,00.html, http://www.clickcaster.com/items/havana-jam--1979, https://web.archive.org/web/20070625091350/http://www.shio.org/BJ/concerts/#1979, http://www.radionuevitas.co.cu/2009/03/28/cultura_280309_2.asp, http://www.cubanow.net/pages/loader.php?sec=4&t=2&item=6547, https://web.archive.org/web/20091001165845/http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/playlists/havana-jam/playlist-375406.html, https://web.archive.org/web/20091210230916/http://billyjoel.es/WordPress/?m=197903, National Festival of Polish Song in Opole, Fantasy Fair and Magic Mountain Music Festival, Northern California Folk-Rock Festival II, Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Havana_Jam&oldid=1009605525, Articles lacking in-text citations from November 2009, Wikipedia articles with style issues from November 2009, Articles with multiple maintenance issues, Articles with unsourced statements from October 2018, Articles with unsourced statements from December 2016, Articles with unsourced statements from July 2019, Articles with dead external links from January 2020, Articles with permanently dead external links, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 1 March 2021, at 11:46. Learn how your comment data is processed. First, I have to finish it, and for that, I will need funds. It was called “Havana Jam.”. What kind of impact did Fidel Castro have on your early years? It’s been noted that you interviewed one of Rock’s most beloved, enduring superstars for your documentary. The event is recollected and revived in Ernesto Juan Castellanos's 2009 documentary Havana Jam '79. Then, I will have to take care of the licenses for all the copyrighted material I’m using. Leading off Saturday evening's entertainment was the first grouping of the CBS Jazz All-Stars, composed of Dexter Gordon, Stan Getz, Jimmy Heath, Arthur Blythe, Woody Shaw, Hubert Laws, Bobby Hutcherson, Willie Bobo, Cedar Walton, Percy Heath and Tony Williams. For Thread | Tiffany Rousso & Nate Ginnetty together, they made an connection... His violin with him, as we speak, I brought my son the to! 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