Carlos Inzillo (born December 15, 1944) is a jazz musician, producer and historian from Argentina.
Life and work
Inzillo was born in
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
in 1944. He enrolled at th
Universidád John F. Kennedy(a private, local college), earning a degree in
journalism
Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the " news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (pro ...
, and later, a doctorate in
social psychology
Social psychology is the scientific study of how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people or by social norms. Social psychologists typically explain human behavior as a result of the ...
. While still in college, in 1963, he joined Radio Libertad as a programmer for emcee Jorge Ruanova's popular nighttime
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
program, ''Buenos Aires, Hora Cero'' ("Buenos Aires at Midnight"), and contributed to a local
documentary film
A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...
as music consultant. Inzillo learned
solfège
In music, solfège (, ) or solfeggio (; ), also called sol-fa, solfa, solfeo, among many names, is a music education method used to teach aural skills, pitch and sight-reading of Western music. Solfège is a form of solmization, though the tw ...
and
music theory from well-known
Argentine Tango pianist
Horacio Salgán
Horacio Adolfo Salgán (June 15, 1916 – August 19, 2016) was an Argentine tango musician. He was born in Buenos Aires to an established Afro-Argentine family. Some of Salgán's most well-known compositions include ''Del 1 al 5 (Días de pago)'' ...
during this interim, and mastered the
clarinet. He remained on the
radio
Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmi ...
in subsequent years, hosting ''El diccionario del jazz'' ("Jazz Dictionary") on Radio Municipal in 1966, ''Jazz sin barreras'' ("Jazz without Barriers") on Radio Rivadavia in 1967, ''Registros inéditos'' ("Unreleased Recordings") on Radio Municipal in 1968, ''Jazz a la carta'' on Radio Nacional in 1973, and ''Jazz contemporáneo'' on FM Radio Nacional, in 1976, as well as organizing a number of
jazz festival
This is a list of notable jazz festivals around the world.
Historic jazz festivals
Jazz festivals by country
The following is an incomplete list of notable jazz festivals, including both current and defunct festivals of note.
Africa
Angol ...
s, beginning with "Jazz & Pop" in 1969, and contributing a jazz column on a number of local magazines and radio programs during the 1970s and 1980s.
Elections in 1983 resulted in Inzillo's appointment as communications director for the
General San Martín Theatre, the most important of its kind in Argentina. He leveraged this post for the establishment of an annual jazz festival at the adjacent
San Martín Cultural Center, ''Jazzología''. Featuring a varied repertoire and free to the public, Jazzología premiered successfully on September 4, 1984, leading to Inzillo's creation of a smaller, outdoor version of the event, ''Jazz al caer la tarde'' ("Evening Jazz"), which he hosted at the center's southern plaza from 1985 to 2001.
[
Jazzología attracted both local and international vocalists and musicians over the next two decades, including Betty Carter, Pierre Dørge and his New Jungle Orchestra, Conrad Herwig, ]Sandra Mihanovich
Sandra Mihanovich (born April 24, 1957) is an Argentina, Argentine singer, musician, and composer of Rock (music), Rock, Blues, and Tango music, Tango rhythms.
Biography
She was born in the Recoleta, Buenos Aires, Recoleta neighbourhood of Buen ...
, Karlheinz Miklin, and Chuck Wayne
Chuck Wayne (February 27, 1923 – July 29, 1997) was an American jazz guitarist. He came to prominence in the 1940s, and was among the earliest jazz guitarists to play in the bebop style. Wayne was a member of Woody Herman's First Herd, the f ...
, among many others. Organized annually by Inzillo with but one interruption (in 2007, for the center's refurbishment), the festival attracted over a million spectators in all, and his promotion of jazz in Argentina earned him a distinction as Honorary Citizen of the genre's birthplace, , in 1985.[
Inzillo's many newspaper interviews for '']La Nación
''La Nación'' () is an Argentine daily newspaper. As the country's leading conservative newspaper, ''La Nación''s main competitor is the more liberal '' Clarín''. It is regarded as a newspaper of record for Argentina.
Its motto is: "''La Na ...
'', ''La Prensa ''La Prensa'' ("The Press") is a frequently used name for newspapers in the Spanish-speaking world. It may refer to:
Argentina
* ''La Prensa'' (Buenos Aires)
* , a current publication of Caleta Olivia, Santa Cruz
Bolivia
* ''La Prensa'' (La Paz ...
'' and '' Pagina/12'' included renowned artists such as Gary Burton
Gary Burton (born January 23, 1943) is an American jazz vibraphonist, composer, and educator. Burton developed a pianistic style of four-mallet technique as an alternative to the prevailing two-mallet technique. This approach caused him to be he ...
, Chick Corea, Al Di Meola, Paquito D’Rivera, B.B. King
Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, shi ...
, Baden Powell, Lalo Schiffrin
Boris Claudio "Lalo" Schifrin (born June 21, 1932) is an Argentine-American pianist, composer, arranger and conductor. He is best known for his large body of film and TV scores since the 1950s, incorporating jazz and Latin American musical eleme ...
, Chucho Valdéz and Joe Zawinul. Inzillo returned to radio as host of ''Jazzología laser'', on FM Jazz, from 1991, and ''Raices'' ("Roots") on Radio Nacional, from 1999 until 2003. A prolific historian in his subject, from 1974 onwards he hosted lectures on jazz-related subjects as diverse as Free Jazz
Free jazz is an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventions, such as regular tempos, tones, and chord changes. Musicians duri ...
, Alice Coltrane
Alice Coltrane (' McLeod; August 27, 1937January 12, 2007), also known by her adopted Sanskrit name Turiyasangitananda, was an American jazz musician and composer, and in her later years a swamini. An accomplished pianist and one of the few har ...
, Stéphane Grappelli
Stéphane Grappelli (; 26 January 1908 – 1 December 1997, born Stefano Grappelli) was a French jazz violinist. He is best known as a founder of the Quintette du Hot Club de France with guitarist Django Reinhardt in 1934. It was one of the fi ...
, Jelly Roll Morton
Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe (later Morton; c. September 20, 1890 – July 10, 1941), known professionally as Jelly Roll Morton, was an American ragtime and jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer. Morton was jazz's first arranger, proving that a gen ...
, Charlie Shavers
Charles James Shavers (August 3, 1920 – July 8, 1971) was an American jazz trumpeter who played with Dizzy Gillespie, Nat King Cole, Roy Eldridge, Johnny Dodds, Jimmie Noone, Sidney Bechet, Midge Williams, Tommy Dorsey, and Billie Holiday ...
and Sarah Vaughan. Inzillo was bestowed a Konex Award
Konex Foundation Awards, or simply Konex Awards, are cultural awards from the Konex Foundation honouring Argentine cultural personalities.
History and purpose
Konex Awards are granted by the Konex Foundation, created in 1980 in Argentina. The pur ...
, the highest in the Argentine cultural realm, in 2005,[ and directed the Standards program for the 2008 Buenos Aires Jazz Festival.Buenos Aires Jazz]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Inzillo, Carlos
Argentine journalists
Argentine male journalists
Argentine jazz musicians
Argentine radio presenters
Jazz clarinetists
Argentine record producers
Argentine people of Italian descent
Musicians from Buenos Aires
1944 births
Living people
21st-century clarinetists