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Castello Banfi and Jazz & Wine in Montalcino 2012 (15th Edition)

Scott Hamilton, Reggie Washington, Tom Harrell, Kurt Elling, Nick the Nightfly and many other big names to celebrate jazz and great wine.

The fifteenth edition of Jazz&Wine in Montalcino, one of the longest-running events on the Italian music scene, the result of the collaboration between Castello Banfi, the well-known Montalcino winery, the cultural association Jazz&Image of Rome and the Municipality of Montalcino, will once again feature a programme of the highest level, with Italian and international artists of unquestionable fame.

Jazz & Wine in Montalcino 2012: the programme

The festival will open on Tuesday 17 July, as usual, within the historic walls of Castello Banfi with the quintet of the great sax-tenor Scott Hamilton. From Wednesday 18 July, the festival will move to the splendid 14th-century fortress of Montalcino with Nicola Stilo Sextet, the Roman flutist who, among his many national and international appearances, also counts the prestigious ongoing collaboration he had with Chet Baker in the 1980s. On Thursday 19 July, the festival features Tom Harrell Quintet. Described by Newsweek as one of the purest and most creative living musicians and composers, this year Tom Harrel won Downbeat International's Grammy Award for best solo trumpet.

It will continue on Friday 20 July with a legend of contemporary jazz, Reggie Washington, who will be at Jazz&Wine in one of the few Italian stops on the tour that sees him present his second CD, Freedom. Saturday 21 July will then be the turn of the historic voice of the programme Montecarlo Nights: Nick the Nightfly, for the first time in Montalcino with his quintet to present Nice One. To worthily close this 15th edition of the festival, on Sunday 22 July, the voice of Kurt Elling accompanied by Charlie Hunter's guitar.

For the 15th consecutive year, two such intimate and intense pleasures, jazz music and great quality wine, are celebrating their exciting encounter in the symbolic town of Brunello, Montalcino, with increasing success.

2012 edition: what's new

In the 2012 edition, however, there is also a great novelty: the twinning project involving some of the longest-running Jazz&Wine festivals in Italy. In addition to Jazz&Wine in Montalcino, the following are joining this interesting initiative: Zola Jazz&Wine (Zola Predosa, 25 May-26 June 2012) and Jazz&Wine of Peace (Cormòns, 25-28 October 2012). This is a unique opportunity for comparison with territorial and production realities that differ from each other but share the same passion for great Jazz.