Wynton Marsalis, Lincoln Center jazz group to tour Cuba

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http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/wynton-marsalis-lincoln-center-jazz-group-to-tour-cuba-2090396.html

Wynton Marsalis, Lincoln Center jazz group to tour Cuba

AFP

Sunday, 26 September 2010



The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with trumpet player Wynton Marsalis will play four concerts in Cuba in October joined by Cuban composer and pianist Chucho Valdes, officials media said Thursday.

The Cuban Institute of Music said the performances would be October 5, 6, 7 and 9 at the Mella Theater in Havana, according to the Communist Party daily Granma.

The daily said that Marsalis, the artistic director for jazz at Lincoln Center and one of the best-known trumpet players, has had a "longstanding relationship" with Valdes. Both are Grammy-winning artists.

The announcement comes amid signs of a warming of cultural relations between the United States and Cuba despite a longstanding economic embargo by Washington of the communist island.

Last week, Cuban officials said the American Ballet Theatre and the New York City Ballet will perform in Cuba for the first time in half a century in November in homage to former prima ballerina Alicia Alonso on her 90th birthday.