NORAH JONES & ORNETTE COLEMAN TOPLINE GASTEIZ JAZZ FESTIVAL

Composer, singer and pianist Norah Jones, jazz innovator Ornette Coleman, film director Spike Lee and Spain's Niño Josele and Buika will be the main attraction of the 31st Vitoria-Gasteiz Jazz Festival de Jazz, being held in the Basque city from July 15th to 21st. For one week a year Vitoria-Gasteiz takes over the baton of New Orleans and becomes the world-wide capital of jazz. The Vitoria-Gasteiz Jazz Festival celebrates its 31st festival in 2007 and it is the most prestigious jazz festival in Spain. Over the years, many important artists have appeared for the first time in Spain at the Vitoria-Gasteiz Jazz Festival, and they include Bobby McFerrin, Roy Hardgrove, Madeleine Peyroux, and Jamie Cullum, among many others. Sonny Rollins and Wynton Marsalis were the last big stars to come to Vitoria-Gasteiz, and the city commemorated Marsalis’ stay with a statue of the man himself in the Paseo de la Florida, and he paid homage to the city performing for the first time a musical suite dedicated to Vitoria-Gasteiz.