US JAZZ legend Wynton Marsalis has cancelled tomorrow’s Swing Symphony in Caracas and other concerts in Venezuela, Jazz at Lincoln Centre executive director Greg Scholl confirmed today.

The New York-based trumpeter and composer had been scheduled to lead a series of workshops with Venezuela’s world-famous El Sistema network of youth ensembles.

Mr Scholl said that the visit would be rescheduled at a later date to avoid becoming a distraction amid recent political turmoil between Caracas and Washington.

Jazz “is a powerful tool to bring people across cultures and geographies together,” said Mr Scholl.

“But it’s important that it’s performed in conditions when the music can be heard.

“Intentionally or otherwise, if our performances there and the work that we were doing with them there was to become politicised, those conditions no longer exist.

“And that could be harmful to both of our institutions.”