Hector Martignon


Our first officially announced artist is Hector Martignon, a superstar of Latin Jazz and also a Colombian active in the jazz scene down here. Hector lives in New York, but he's a ubiquitous presence in the jazz festival circuit here. He plays with Ray Barretto and Arturo Sandoval, and before arriving here in Cartagena, he'll be touring Colombia with Cuban legend Paquito D'Rivera.

Here's my favorite line from his bio: "In the fall of 2003 Hector visited Slovenia and Russia to collaborate with singer-songwriter Vitaly Osmsçko’s first symphonic CD . The Russian Philharmonic Orchestra recorded in Moscow the orchestrations written by Hector." Pretty versatile guy.

One thing Hector gives us is a lot of credibility. He's well known down here, and people are immediately impressed that we'll be having him at the festival. And he puts on such a great show!