Jazz Fest 2023: Martin Taylor and Biréli Lagrène
September 3, 2023 @ 7:00 pm
| $25 – $59Orcas Center Presents on Center Stage
Orcas Island Jazz Festival:
Martin Taylor and Biréli Lagrène
Thursday, August 31st at 6pm – EntreMundos Big Band with the Queen and Duke of Samba (Free on the Village Green)
Friday, Sept 1st at 7pm – Martin Lund & The Off-Island All-Stars
Saturday, Sept 2nd at 7pm – säje
Sunday, Sept 3rd at 7pm – Martin Taylor and Biréli Lagrène
Tiered Ticket Pricing: $57, $40, $25
There is an additional $2 ticketing fee
The Orcas Island Jazz Festival (OIJF), Orcas Island’s premier jazz event, lights up Orcas Center for three days every Labor Day weekend. OIJF is dedicated to celebrating and sharing the music of jazz with the Orcas Island community and visitors, to introducing this quintessential American art form to new young audiences through education and performance, and to raising appreciation for the art of jazz in all audiences. As a program of Orcas Center under the artistic direction of Martin Lund, OIJF consistently showcases superb jazz. Each year at this Festival audiences enjoy some of the most highly regarded jazz artists working today.
Partial funding for Orcas Island Jazz Festival is provided by the Washington State Department of Commerce and administered by Washington Festivals and Events Association in collaboration with the Washington State Arts Commission (ArtsWA).
COVID Policy Update: Masks are encouraged in the theatre, but are no longer required.
Martin Taylor & Biréli Lagrène
Sunday, Sept 3rd
Concert at 7pm
GRAMMY nominated musician Dr. Martin Taylor, MBE, is a virtuoso guitarist, composer, educator and musical innovator whom magazine calls ‘THE Acoustic Guitarist of his Generation’.
Widely considered to be the world’s foremost exponent of solo jazz and fingerstyle guitar playing, Martin possesses an inimitable style that has earned him global acclaim from fellow musicians, fans and critics alike. He dazzles audiences with a signature style that artfully combines his virtuosity, emotion and humor with a strong, engaging stage presence.
Taylor has enjoyed a remarkable musical career spanning across five decades, with more than 100 recordings to his credit. Completely self-taught beginning at the early age of 4, he has invented and developed a unique way of playing the guitar that is greatly admired, and often emulated, by guitarists all over the world.
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Among guitarists who can claim the legacy of Django Reinhardt, Biréli Lagrène is obvious: of course, he understood and perpetuated the timbre particular, guitaristic slashes, swing furnace that characterized the poetry of his illustrious elder. But in Bireli, there is a way to overcome the pure virtuosity to achieve a higher order of quality: to the point that his game can make us doubt that Django had really existed before him. Only European jazz genius fully recognized in the United States, Bireli Lagrene chose to greet his master by sharing this music full of sap traveling. Bireli, Django: two names, a vision of the guitar to celebrate in an imaginary head-to-head, past the ropes “French” has never been so much future. (François Lacharme)