One of the most memorable events of this Festival was the evening concert by Officium in St. Peter’s Benedictine basilica. The distant, evocative full-bodied sax of the saxophonist who came in from the cold, Jan Garbarek, and the ancient, ethereal sounds of the Hilliard Ensemble playing pieces from a truly wonderful record, rendered even more incredible by the unique setting, made this a once in a lifetime experience (and the request to perform the concert in a church came from Garbarek himself).
Just as thrilling that year was the performance by Caetano Veloso, whose masterful concert, Fina Estampa, was based on a record in which the Brazilian singer-songwriter goes back to his Latin American repertoire. The key role of the piano at that year’s Festival saw the presence of a number of specialists, such as Michel Petrucciani, Kenny Barron together with Mulgrew Miller, Ahmad Jamal; then there was the big band paying homage to Charles Mingus, and leading vibraphone players Milt Jackson and Gary Burton.
