Rhythm Road: American Music Abroad

The Jed Levy Quartet is performing in Haiti as part of the International Jazz Festival of Port-au-Prince.

The U.S. Embassy of Port au Prince is bringing the Rhythm Road: American Music Abroad program to Haiti from January 21 to 28 during their Latin American tour.

The Rhythm Road: American Music Abroad program is designed to bring American culture to underserved audiences around the globe through person-to-person exchanges.  Jazz at Lincoln Center and the U.S. Department of State produces an annual series of international tours for ten ensembles performing jazz, urban, blues, bluegrass, country, gospel, hip hop, and other American roots music to countries all over the world.  During their tours, Rhythm Road: American Music Abroad musicians will engage directly with foreign audiences via workshops, master classes, jam sessions, performances, and media outreach and provide a greater understanding of American society.  From New York City, the Jed Levy Quartet will perform in Panama, Haiti, Mexico, Venezuela, and Peru.  Their visit to Haiti is happening simultaneously during the International Jazz Festival of Port au Prince.  They will engage with musicians and music lovers in Port au Prince and in Cap-Haitian.  

The Jed Levy Quartet (New York, New York) explores a wide variety of approaches to the modern jazz idiom based on each band member’s unique professional experiences. The quartet was formed two years ago in New York City as four friends with a common musical aesthetic, and it developed a colorful, melodic, rhythmically compelling, and uniquely American perspective on music.  The group exhibits a historically-informed contemporary sound which focuses on the leaders’ diverse repertoire of over 300 original compositions as well as their arrangements of standards from jazz literature.  The quartet includes Jed Levy (Saxophone and Flute), Alvester Garnett (Drums), Thomson Kneeland (Bass), and Misha Tsiganov (Piano).  

Cap-Haitian:

• Tuesday Jan 24 at 5p.m. – Workshop at the Alliance Francaise
• Wednesday Jan 25 at 5p.m. – Open Concert at the Place des Armes

Port au Prince:

• Thursday Jan 26 at 6p.m. – Concert at Karibe Hotel for the Jazz Festival
• Friday Jan 27 at 9 a.m. – Workshop at FOKAL for amateur musicians with the Jazz Festival
• Friday Jan 27 at 1:30 p.m. – Workshop at FOKAL for CONOCS kids of Cite Soleil
• Saturday Jan 28 at 6 pm – Concert at Parc Historique de la Canne a Sucre with the Jazz Festival