HotHouse to Stream JAZZ PLAZA

Marguerite Horberg, executive director of the award-winning Chicago-based nonprofit arts presenter HotHouse, today announced that it has been awarded the exclusive rights to stream the 2021 legendary Cuban jazz festival "Jazz Plaza" Jan. 21-24. The four-night festival, presented under the title HotHouse Meets Havana, will feature a nightly mix of the top Latin Jazz musicians based in Cuba, as well as critically acclaimed American jazz musicians, composers and scholars. The two-hour nightly programs, which will also be broadcast on television in Cuba, can be viewed on HotHouse's recently launched streaming platform HotHouseGlobal. Tickets ($25 for each program) go on sale Monday, Dec. 14 at 9 a.m. on hothouse.net.

The producers of "Jazz Plaza" invited HotHouse to become the international presenter of "Jazz Plaza" following HotHouse's production of the July Concert for Cuba, which was viewed by more than 10 million people worldwide. Horberg was also tapped to select the American musicians who will be performing as part of the Festival, and participating in a roundtable discussion, the only international components of the 2021 event. The 5 programs showcase a variety of contemporary composers and ensembles performing original music created especially for this occasion.

HotHouse's arrangement with the Institute of Cuban Music marks the first time that "Jazz Plaza" will be available to be enjoyed by an international audience.

"Jazz Plaza" is one of the world's most important international jazz events, typically featuring an array of Cuba's top talent, a who's who of international participants and up-and-comers," said Horberg. "In celebration of HotHouse's 34th year of presenting international music, we are thrilled to be able to bring this year's program to an international audience, while also shining the spotlight on some of the most acclaimed talents working in Chicago today."

The Chicago musicians participating in the program are as follows:

· Ensemble 1: Tomeka Reid with internationally established bassist Junius Paul. Reid was recently recognized as a "New Jazz Power Source" by the New York Times.

· Solo Performance: Jazz Master Roscoe Mitchell, considered one of the key figures in avant-garde jazz, integrating influences from everywhere-world music, funk, rock, classical-to create music that is at once beautiful and complex.

· Ensemble 2: James Sanders with Gold Record Awardee Leandro Varady. Sanders is a bold presence in Chicago's creative music movement and has performed around the world staying true to his Caribbean roots.

· Ensemble 3: Coco Elysses with Alexis Lombre and Ivan Taylor. Elysses won an ALTA Award for Best Original Music in a Play and was a featured musician in the critically claimed FOX TV drama Empire. Lombre is a young jazz pianist with a recently debuted album, "Southside Sounds," that soulfully reflects on her upbringing on Chicago's Southside.

· Ensemble 4: Ben La Mar Gay is a Chicago South Side native and renowned collaborator; his true composing technique is giving life to an idea while exploring and expanding on the term "Americana." With other artists TBA.

· Ensemble 5: Hamid Drake is widely regarded as one of the best percussionists in jazz and improvised music, playing alongside many renowned artists. Additional artists TBA.

· Ensemble 6: Ari Brown with Yosef Ben Israel, Charles Heath. Brown has long been considered by critics as a master saxophonist and one of the elder practitioners of "the Chicago sound" and an artist deserving of much greater recognition.

Photo credit: Marc Monaghan

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