Jazz in Panama

Before I get around to writing a proper essay on jazz in Panama, here’s what I can say off the top of my head.

Pianist Danilo Perez was just 24 when he toured the world with Dizzy Gillespie’s United Nations Orchestra, in an all-star lineup that included Arturo Sandoval, James Moody, Paquito D’Rivera, Slide Hampton, Airto Moreira, Claudio Roditi and Flora Purim. During the 1990s, he went on to record with many of these musicans, as well as leading his own bands since 1993, receiving several Grammy nominations. He has also won Grammy awards for his work with Wayne Shorter. In 2003, he founded the Panama International Jazz Festival, which has gone from strength to strength.

Drummer Billy Cobham was born in the city of Colón, but moved with his family to New York at the age of three. Bass player Alex Blake was another transplant to the United States, in his case aged 7. Among his first appearances on record, while still in his early 20s, were three albums with Cobham on Atlantic Records and the debut album of another Panamanian, saxophonist Carlos Garnett, about whom I’ve written a short profile.