Leyla Efendiyeva

Leyla Efendiyeva , also known as Leyla Efendi, is an Azerbaijani journalist, magazine editor, writer, and jazz festival director. She is the director of the Baku International Jazz Festival and editor-in-chief of Jazz Dünyası ("Jazz World"), a magazine devoted to jazz in Azerbaijan.

Career

Efendiyeva and her husband, Azerbaijani saxophonist Rain Sultanov, worked together to establish the Baku Jazz Centre and launch Jazz Dünyası. According to All About Jazz, Efendiyeva guided the redesign of the centre and, together with Sultanov, contacted foreign embassies while developing the event that became the Baku Jazz Festival.

The festival was launched in 2005. Sultanov is its founder and artistic director, while Efendiyeva serves as its director.

In its coverage of the 2017 festival, Euronews identified Efendiyeva as the festival's director and quoted her discussing its programming of jazz, funk, and ethno-jazz. Euronews again interviewed Efendiyeva during its coverage of the 2018 festival.

Efendiyeva has also served as project director of I Am Jazzman!, a competition for young jazz performers held as part of the Baku Jazz Festival.

Publishing and international activity

Efendiyeva is the editor-in-chief of Jazz Dünyası, which International Jazz Day describes as Azerbaijan's first printed periodical devoted to jazz.