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A Night of Boogie Woogie with Patrick Hazell by Jose Luis De Tone     ABC Color, Asuncion, Paraguay, Jan. 30, 1999

   It can be affirmed that Patrick Hazell was an authentic unknown in Paraguay before his concert on Thursday night in the Americas Theater, an occasion in which the hall felt small from all the hundreds of followers of good music. Hazell showed his great artistic versatility with the piano, harmonica, and drum sounds with a repertoire composed of a great majority of songs he wrote. Without a script, making vibes to a wishful audience to allow these rhythms to transport us to a cultural manifestation that transcends borders, that converts into the universal message.
With sincerity, Hazell commented upon how he came to include Paraguay as a venue, thanks to an invitation from his daughter, Aira, who performed upon the flute during the last two songs of the show. She is one of the many Peace Corps volunteers. Also, he spoke of his past experiences to Paraguay two years ago, with improvisations on harmonica with string harp, and guitar in the countryside. As well he mentioned the origin of some of the songs. He remembered an occasion when somebody told him he should always give concerts where a river runs through it, and this town met that requirement.
  With great versatility in piano and harmonica, Hazell also invited a North American, who is temporarily staying in Paraguay, the trumpeter, Alex Wild, with whom he initiated a jam session that made the audience delirious in a night where the sounds seemed to transport us from the Asuncion summer to the countryside of a New Orleans winter.