Jazz Festival immortalises Charles ‘City’ Gatt, father of jazz in Malta

The Malta Jazz Festival lost its founder Charles Gatt in 2022. He was a beacon of enthusiasm for all emerging jazz musicians through his passion for jazz music and art, and his intellectual curiosity, paving the way for jazz in Malta.

Charles Gatt, better known as ‘City’, was born in 1944 in Żebbiegħ. He fostered a love for music and art at an early age, first starting out as a painter of abstract paintings and installations. City studied at the Berklee College of Music in Boston USA, between 1978 and 1979, and spent most of his adult life as a music and percussions teacher, and later as school principal.

City continued to express his love for jazz with the Malta Jazz Festival. Back in 1991, Charles Gatt launched the Malta Jazz Festival – bringing together jazz giants on one stage at the iconic venue of Ta’ Liesse which overlooks the picturesque Grand Harbour.

Jazz legend Chick Corea would toast the uniqueness of the festival by commenting that he had “never played in a postcard before” after his first invite to the festival. The musicians that headlined the festival have since throughout the years become legends forever cemented in the history of jazz music: Joe Henderson, McCoy Tyner and Lee Konitz amongst others.

Throughout the years under the artistic direction of Charles Gatt, followed by mentee Sandro Zerafa, the festival has developed a reputation of being one of the few Jazz festivals that remained truly loyal to the genre.

This year, the festival will celebrate its history, going back to its roots in Ta’ Liesse and is dedicated to its godfather Charles Gatt, to pay homage to his legacy.

This year’s festival is themed around the artistic legacy of City which is immortalised in an artwork created by illustrator Ivan Sciberras from Studio Eleven54. Festivals Malta, the organiser of the Malta Jazz Festival, has released 125 limited edition posters of this artwork for sale. This year’s exhibition at the Phoenicia Hotel will also be dedicated to Charles Gatt through photography and Charles’s paintings, titled ‘City Lights – A Charles Gatt Retrospective’, which will be open for the public till the end of July.

The Malta Jazz Festival is set to take place between the 11-16 July, featuring Joel Ross, John Scofield, Yusan, Danny Grissett, Richard Bona and Alfredo Rodriguez, among others as headliners. The festival will also feature various jam sessions and free masterclasses led by Danny Grissett, Francesco Ciniglio, Daniele Cordisco and Marika Galea.

This year’s edition is set to be more memorable then ever! More information and tickets on www.festivals.mt/mjf