“There's a beautiful
grandeur in music that comes from a very simple, but not simplistic,
approach to rhythm”. --- Arturo O’Farrill
Pianist Arturo O’ Farrill has
been a force in jazz and Afro- Caribbean
music for many years. His work with the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra for
Jazz at Lincoln Center won him a Grammy in 2006, and his work with
various projects large and small have allowed him to tour extensively. O’Farrill has
appeared on numerous records including the
Grammy-nominated Heart of a Legend, Carambola, and the soundtrack to
the critically acclaimed movie Calle 54. His eight albums as a
leader including his latest Song For Chico are also a testament to his
major player status.
"The roots of Latin and jazz are the
same”, says O’Farrill.
“New
Orleans at the turn of the century was a very Caribbean city” … "Many
of the musicians that came back and forth between Cuba and New Orleans
and much of the Caribbean brought with them some of the rhythms that
infected and inflected a lot of what we call jazz."
As a guest soloist with the Jazz at Lincoln Center organization, O’Farrill performed
three landmark concerts — Afro-Cuban Jazz: Chico
O’Farrill’s Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra; Con Alma: The Latin Tinge in Big
Band Jazz; and the 2001 Jazz at Lincoln Center Gala: The Spirit of Tito
Puente. O’Farrill has
also led educational performances that
reached over 10,000 students in NYC metropolitan area
schools.
Arturo O’Farrill’s
touring has allowed him to spread the good word of
Latin Jazz not only around the U.S. in such venues as Atlanta’s Rialto
Concert Hall with his program celebrating Latin Jazz throughout the
Americas - Musica Nueva, but also overseas at the Megaron Concert Hall
in Athens and The Bern Jazz Festival.
Starting out playing strictly jazz, O’Farrill
says in his late 20s he …
“started understanding how graceful,
elegant and really complex Latin
music is. It was an epiphany for me. I credit Andy Gonzalez, Pablo
Vasquez and my father (Chico O’Farrill), … who opened up that world to
me. They played me a lot of music and talked to me about ... the
uniting of mind and passion. Those two things are not separate”.
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/
http://www.arturoofarrill.com/
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