MusicRatty: Creating Authentic Buzz: Gabriel Alegria and Sofia Koutsovitis on video

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Creating Authentic Buzz: Gabriel Alegria and Sofia Koutsovitis on video

2008-01-18 14:25:13 by chip in The Latin Jazz Corner

Buzz has equated success in the popular music world for several years. When pop artists participate in an outlandish event, they get people talking and draw more attention to their work. Many times a publicist will plaster an artist’s image, voice, and actions in every possible location so that people can’t help but talk about the artist and their music. On unfortunate occasions, pop musicians make bad life decisions that get publicized on every talk show, magazine, and web site. Once again, their increased exposure brings an audience to their music. In many ways, pop culture buzz revolves around the person and their lifestyle with the music receiving attention consequently.

Buzz in the jazz world needs to come from more authentic sources, and often reflects upon a musician’s performance. While some jazz musicians participate in crazy events at times, their positioning outside popular culture keeps these elements out of the limelight. Instead, jazz fans tend to remember musical events that define their favorite artists - positive or negative. When a musician delivers a lackluster performance, they loose their audience’s attention, which most likely moves to another artist. When a musician performs with a consistent professionalism and creative flow, their audience listens faithfully and continues their support. When an artist exceeds all expectations, takes risks, and boldly explores new territory, they not only maintain a rapt audience, that audience talks about the artist - that’s when a jazz artist creates a buzz.

Listening to the buzz from the Latin Jazz contingent that attended the recent IAJE (International Associate of Jazz Educators) conference, two names arose consistently: Gabriel Alegria and Sofia Koutsovitis. Both artists turned heads with their organic blends of jazz with Peruvian and Argentinean music, providing a sharp contrast to the usual schedule of Cuban based Latin Jazz. These two artists got their audience excited; but their audience at the IAJE included top professional jazz musicians, critics, radio broadcasters, and educators. Their audience contained a selective group of listeners with a very knowledgeable background in jazz. When a group like that gets excited about music, we want to hear it; in the jazz world, this is the best type of buzz possible.

The videos below feature both these outstanding artists in different contexts. The first video captures Gabriel Alegria’s Afro-Peruvian Sextet at the Theater Arts Arena in Montgomery College. It combines several clips from different songs throughout the night. The first two Sofia Koutsovitis videos relive her performance at the IAJE 2008 conference. The last video shows Koutsovitis’ group live at the Blue Note in New York City. Follow the buzz and check out these great artists in concert - enjoy!

Gabriel Alegria Afro-Peruvian Sextet
Live at Theater Arts Arena, Montgomery College