Oh! Jazz: this music is improvised

In January, jazz seems to want to eclipse all other genres. With a festival that will soon reach forty editions, and that usually brings together the most important Cuban exponents and a variety of international representatives of the highest quality, it is not strange to see the city getting carried away by the hectic and festive spirit of the presentations and the jam which fortunately are finding more and more alternative venues to balance the deterioration of concert halls.

In this context so conducive to improvisation and exchange, we got to know the work of Oh! Jazza global platform that promotes the dissemination of groups and exponents of the genre through audiovisual materials that capture the essence of the music at concerts. Precisely in this lies the most interesting part of its proposal: it transforms the common experience of digital consumption and recorded tracks that abound on the platforms of streamingto take the spectator to the space where jazz unfolds with true freedom, the small halls and nightclubs.  

In 2023 the Oh! Jazz team recorded for the first time in Havana, and since then has collaborated with renowned Cuban artists such as Dayramir González, Ruly Herrera and Real Project, Jorge Luis Pacheco and Eme Alfonso. Jesús Perezagua, founder and CEO of the platform, tells us in this interview about the history, the creative process and the internal management of the project, which has only been in existence for a year, but has great expectations and is committed to the vitality and constant renewal of the jazz scene around the world.

How did Oh! Jazz come about, and why take this genre specifically as a focus?

Oh! Jazz was born with the ambition of providing jazz with a global audiovisual platform that serves as a stage for all styles, rhythms and influences, as well as facilitating access to jazz lovers from all over the world.

The choice of jazz and not another style of music is explained by several reasons. Jazz is a living music, made every day live by impressive artists capable of creating and improvising, from clubs all over the world. We wanted this enormous work of artists and clubs to have the great global stage it deserves, solving two important challenges: on the one hand, to be able to bring the magic of the club with all its small details without interfering in its intimate and reduced space; and on the other hand, to do it with a quality at the height of creativity and talent of the artists.

What importance do you attach to live music? Although the public has access to recorded (and possibly edited) material, it is a different proposal than listening to an album, for example. What are the objectives of this initiative?

As I have pointed out, what sets jazz apart from other musical genres is among other things spontaneity, improvisation, the passion of the musicians and the magic of the clubs. Oh! Jazz stems from my and my partner's passion for live music and the recognition and appreciation of unique and quality content. And precisely what we are pursuing with Oh! Jazz is to bring the unique moments of great artists directly from the venues to the homes of jazz lovers.

As executives and producers with experience in television, we take care of the content with specialists; once each concert is broadcasted live, we do a post production treatment to make them available to subscribers on demand, keeping the essence of the live show and editing the songs in beautiful playlists created by specialists and collaborators.

The evolution of jazz and the way of perceiving it is very different around the world. How do you assume this diversity? Are you interested in enhancing it, in showing its dissimilar essences and sonorities, or are you inclined towards the homogenization of listening and experiences?

At Oh! Jazz we embrace the richness of cultural diversity and enhance it. We are born with a truly international DNA and a collaborative spirit. We work hand in hand with our partner clubs, they are the best specialists and curators in each region and style. In a short period of time we have managed to bring together on the platform the breadth and depth of Brazilian rhythms from JazzB in Sao Paulo, the extraordinary flavor of flamenco jazz and hints of Latin jazz from Spain, the distinctive swing of Pittsburgh, we compiled from Body&Soul in Tokyo a wide sample of emerging talent from Japan, the effervescence of jazz in the United Kingdom, the jazz tradition in northern Italy and, although we meet extraordinary Cuban musicians in all the clubs where we are, we count on Fábrica de Arte Cubano in Havana to show the enormous richness of what is made in Cuba with all its tradition and emerging talent. Jazz, as you point out, is a flexible style open to influences, moldable to the local and particular sonorities of each geography, it is also a living genre and on the platform we want to continue growing by incorporating more styles, diversity and freshness to be discovered every week from our platform.

Is there a selection process, or do you usually make a previous approach to the artists and spaces with which you collaborate?

We work hand in hand with our partner clubs. They all share a great tradition, daily concerts, a careful taste and a firm commitment to jazz. They are the best connoisseurs of what is happening in each city and country. In addition, we have experts and collaborators in different countries to channel the effort and communication with the artists. We are just starting this great initiative and we are beginning to have conversations with artists interested in our project and to collaborate or co-produce, like this past December, [during] our first jazz festival.

How did Oh! Jazz arrive in Cuba and why? What has the experience been like, what has it given you as a global platform?

I think the question would be rather: how could we not be in Cuba? When we talk about jazz, we inevitably think of great composers and performers, of Paquito D'Rivera, Chucho or Bebo Valdés, but also of a huge base of young talent. If our goal as a platform is to generate a window for the different styles and local influences that exist around jazz, we had to be in a country with such a rich culture and with such iconic references for this musical genre.

Have you considered creating new alliances on the island, and is there a specific artist or space with which you would like to collaborate?

We are very fortunate to have the commitment to jazz, the professionalism and the enormous energy of the team behind Fábrica de Arte Cubano and thus begin to take our first steps in Cuban music. There is a lot to do and yes, we would like to continue to expand the presence of jazz and Cuban artists in Oh! Jazz. For me it would be a dream, on the one hand, to be able to have a great festival and, on the other hand, to channel and promote a greater number of talents.

Is the content of the platform available to the Cuban public? What could be the ways to access your materials from here?

Our platform is available globally, either through the Internet or through mobile and television applications; we also have a 24-hour jazz TV channel with all our recorded content. As I mentioned before, we are in our first steps and therefore [we have] a long way to go and a lot to improve. We are working on more and better ways of accessing the content and on more means and forms of payment that we hope to be able to offer in Cuba as well.

This month takes place one of the most important events in the country for lovers of the genre and a rapprochement could be beneficial in both directions. Will you be participating in this new edition of Jazz Plaza? Have you had any previous experience with the festival?

We would love to participate in Jazz Plaza in the future in a more ambitious way. For this and future editions we hope to be as present as possible with Fábrica de Arte Cubano, our Oh! Jazz club in Havana, with concerts, interviews or any other formula that will help to give more exposure to the festival and Cuban artists.

There is a very young generation that is developing new ways of musical creation, in the case of Cuba, for example, jazz is merging with alternative music, Afro sonorities, etc. How do you appreciate the development of jazz in the new generations of composers? What is the platform's perspective regarding emerging artists?

Jazz is not only the origin of a large number of modern rhythms, but it is also a living genre in constant evolution. Indeed, we appreciate an exciting dynamism of a large number of young artists with interesting contributions and rich cultural influences. Oh! Jazz is born with an innovative mindset of supporting jazz and therefore all strata of artists with a business model that is inspired by patronage. The 25% of each subscription goes directly to the artists who have performed on the platform, distributed among all the shows in the same proportion regardless of their cache. This idea of directly promoting the world of jazz and therefore supporting the new batch of artists is an essential part of the platform's raison d'être. Jazz is a living style, and if we want it to continue to develop, we must support, without hindrance, the new generations.