Discipline and perseverance are easy words to pronounce and write. The difficult part is turning them into action, especially when they are executed simultaneously. Achieving this leads to gradual success, the kind that knows no bounds, like the success Fernando Rodríguez de Mondesert and his Jazz en Dominicana project have been experiencing for 20 years.
—Alexis Mendez
Jazz en Dominicana was born on October 23rd of 2006. It was originally a blog whose intention was to inform about the Jazz that was presented in the Dominican Republic (by local and international musicians), as well as about what dominican jazz musicians were doing in other beaches. Before completing its first year (September 2007), the first weekly live jazz venue was born—Jazz Dominicana at Casa de Teatro.
This October they will celebrate 20 years of having begun the mission of working to spread jazz; contributing to diversifying the type of public that enters the world of jazz, of increasing the venues for live jazz, of supporting emerging talents and of making known, positioning and promoting jazz inside and outside of the country through, today, a series of products and services that it has developed.
During this time the Jazz en Dominicana web page has posted over 2,730 publications: concerts and festival reviews, articles, interviews, biographies, photographs and more, offering a window into the jazz scene in the country during this period of time. Also, during this period, in more than 1,550 live jazz weekly events, there have been enriching moments of instrumental and vocal jazz, presentations have been made with more than 250 musicians and vocalists from all corners of the Caribbean nation, as well as guest artists from the United States, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Mexico, Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Jamaica, Curacao, Aruba, Russia, Holland, Denmark, Israel, Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, Perú, Chile, Haití, Canada, and Ecuador. Fiesta Sunset Jazz, which is held every Friday on the 8th floor of the Dominican Fiesta Hotel, will celebrate its 750th event this coming December, and in the 2019 All About Jazz Reader's Poll placed as the #15 jazz venue in the world.
Jazz en Dominicana´s eighth book was published in February of this year: Jazz en Dominicana—The Interviews 2025, is the seventh in the interview series. These publications open a window to various actors who have been, are and will be part of the jazz scene in the country! The special and different thing about these books is that not only are they written in Spanish and English, but they are integrated with Augmented Reality. The books published to date contain interviews with 62 musicians and 11 educators, producers of radio programs, concerts and festivals, as well as the presentation of 50 women, who have contributed and are contributing enormously in all styles and in all periods of the history of jazz in the Dominican Republic.
Additional highlights so far in 2026 were that for the 15th consecutive year, Jazz en Dominicana hosts multiple events to celebrate International Jazz Day; and, for the fifth time participates as co-host in the virtual programming of the New Orleans Jazz Museum International Jazz Day Celebration. (Event that was recognized by International Jazz Day and the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz). As well Fernando Rodriguez De Mondesert continues his monthly column “Hablemos de Jazz" Let´s talk about Jazz) in the renowned Dominican Republic publication Ritmo Social; as well as his regular contributions to Latin Jazz Network (Toronto, Canada).
Grateful to so many... Jazz en Dominicana hollers out a big THANK YOU! and firmly states and confirms that they shall continue to contribute to the culture of music, especially Jazz, in the Dominican Republic. And… on October 24th… year 21 shall begin!
This October they will celebrate 20 years of having begun the mission of working to spread jazz; contributing to diversifying the type of public that enters the world of jazz, of increasing the venues for live jazz, of supporting emerging talents and of making known, positioning and promoting jazz inside and outside of the country through, today, a series of products and services that it has developed.
During this time the Jazz en Dominicana web page has posted over 2,730 publications: concerts and festival reviews, articles, interviews, biographies, photographs and more, offering a window into the jazz scene in the country during this period of time. Also, during this period, in more than 1,550 live jazz weekly events, there have been enriching moments of instrumental and vocal jazz, presentations have been made with more than 250 musicians and vocalists from all corners of the Caribbean nation, as well as guest artists from the United States, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Mexico, Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Jamaica, Curacao, Aruba, Russia, Holland, Denmark, Israel, Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, Perú, Chile, Haití, Canada, and Ecuador. Fiesta Sunset Jazz, which is held every Friday on the 8th floor of the Dominican Fiesta Hotel, will celebrate its 750th event this coming December, and in the 2019 All About Jazz Reader's Poll placed as the #15 jazz venue in the world.
Jazz en Dominicana´s eighth book was published in February of this year: Jazz en Dominicana—The Interviews 2025, is the seventh in the interview series. These publications open a window to various actors who have been, are and will be part of the jazz scene in the country! The special and different thing about these books is that not only are they written in Spanish and English, but they are integrated with Augmented Reality. The books published to date contain interviews with 62 musicians and 11 educators, producers of radio programs, concerts and festivals, as well as the presentation of 50 women, who have contributed and are contributing enormously in all styles and in all periods of the history of jazz in the Dominican Republic.
Additional highlights so far in 2026 were that for the 15th consecutive year, Jazz en Dominicana hosts multiple events to celebrate International Jazz Day; and, for the fifth time participates as co-host in the virtual programming of the New Orleans Jazz Museum International Jazz Day Celebration. (Event that was recognized by International Jazz Day and the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz). As well Fernando Rodriguez De Mondesert continues his monthly column “Hablemos de Jazz" Let´s talk about Jazz) in the renowned Dominican Republic publication Ritmo Social; as well as his regular contributions to Latin Jazz Network (Toronto, Canada).
Grateful to so many... Jazz en Dominicana hollers out a big THANK YOU! and firmly states and confirms that they shall continue to contribute to the culture of music, especially Jazz, in the Dominican Republic. And… on October 24th… year 21 shall begin!
