The International Jazz Festival was born in the Casa de la Cultura de Plaza, from a dream 38 years ago. Musicians like Leonardo Acosta, Emiliano Salvador, Bobby Carcassés and Pablo Menéndez, among others, did not accept the impossible for some and made that chimera come true.

Since its very foundation, the Cuban-American guitarist, Pablo Menéndez, director of the Mezcla group, accompanies each edition of the great event.

Pablo, what do you think of this tribute to Leonardo Acosta and the tribute to Bobby Carcassés?

I think it is very important to remind these musicians that, when jazz was looked down upon by different criteria, they had certainty and conviction. In the case of Leonardo Acosta, researcher, writer, essayist, musicologist and saxophonist, for his arsenal of theoretical knowledge and fundamentals to argue that jazz was part of our culture and that the relationship between the birth of jazz and Cuban music were also part of the same culture; and Bobby, for his permanence in defense of the genre for more than seven decades.

Is there any difference between Jazz Plaza and other festivals of the genre in the world?

Yes, I believe that the price to enter the theaters, or in the different venues of the event, to see a world show, with artists of great international fame, here in Cuba is very affordable for any pocket, which shows that culture is at the service of the people. If there is a sponsor in these festivals, it is the Cuban people, because it was born in the house of culture and in the community of a dream, because we always think that the impossible does not exist.

In your opinion, what is Jazz Plaza?

It is one of the international festivals, where more diversity of invited countries come, great figures of music and the world, great local artists, both those who live here, and those who reside outside of Cuba and return to be at this great party, where we all come together, as part of that expression of solidarity and brotherhood.

Outstanding artists, soloists and groups from the United States, Argentina, France, Canada, Spain, the Netherlands, Norway and Mozambique, participate in the thirty-eighth edition of the Jazz Plaza Festival, in Havana and Santiago de Cuba, making them the stages of the most universal of musical genres.