CHICO O’FARRILL: Arquitecto del Jazz Latino

En la actualidad existe una calle en la ciudad de La Habana llamada Calle O’Farrill, cuyo nombre rinde honor a un ex-alcalde de la capital cubana. Este personaje era hijo de un irlandés que arribó en aquel encantador puerto marítimo durante el siglo diecinueve. Como tantos otros emigrantes de la epoca colonial, el irlandés plantó raices y se quedó en la isla para siempre. Y, como muchos otros emigrantes, aportó su granito de arena [...]

SF Arts Commission passes resolution

On Monday, November 7th, 2011 at the San Francisco Executive Arts Commission Meeting the resolution, spearheaded by Commissioner John Calloway was proposed to the board commissioners asking them to issue a formal request to the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences to immediately reinstate the 31 categories of music genres that were dropped from GRAMMY consideration on April 6, 2011 [...]

Gilson Schachnik and Mauricio Zottarelli – Mozik (2011)

It is amazing how it sometimes takes a foreign adventure to find one’s appreciation for the culture of home territory. Whereas the love of fusion, jazz and rock music originating in the United States is embraced with verve in the Southern Hemisphere, likewise I have never run into a native jazz musician in the Northern Hemisphere who isn’t fascinated by the rhythms of African influenced Brazilian music, particularly the region of Bahia [...]

Andy and Jerry’s: A Tribute to the González Brothers

Arturo O’ Farrill, the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra and guest conductor, Miguel Blanco paid a heartfelt tribute to cultural warriors, Jerry and Andy González at Peter Norton Symphony space, a performance space on New York’s upper West Side. The highly anticipated event was promoted as “Andy and Jerry’s: A Tribute to the González Brothers,” an allusion to Andy and Jerry’s apartment in the Bronx during the 1970s, a place where veteran and second generation [...]

Ninth Annual Panama Jazz Festival

One of Panama’s most significant cultural events, the Ninth Annual Panama Jazz Festival will be held on January 16-21, 2012. Already a reference in the global jazz calendar and attracting more than an estimated 100,000 people since its inception, this year’s festival is dedicated to tenor saxophonist Carlos Garnett, one of the most prolific Panamanian-Americans in jazz, known for working with artists such as Miles Davis, Charles Mingus and [...]

John Benitez at the Jazz Standard

Grammy Award-winning bassist John Benitez was born in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico, and by age nineteen was the first-call bassist in San Juan’s thriving Jazz and Latin music scenes. Since moving to NYC in 1993, John has gigged and recorded with a plethora of jazz and Latin greats ranging from Wynton Marsalis and Ravi Coltrane to Ray Barreto and Mongo Santamaria. In 2001, John released his first album as a leader, “Descarga in New York” [...]

Conversation with Pianist, Composer Sebastian Schunke

Sebastian Schunke brings with “Life and Death” a new and very intimate touch to his music – piano solo. For the first time Sebastian plays part of his highly aclaimed compositions as a Solo pianist. On the other 4 compositions he presents his new band – the new wild high energetic young Berlin – Dan Freeman on tenor, Diego Pinera on drums and Marcel Krömker on bass. This band already toured the world with Sebastian, developing a new [...]

Steve Khan – Parting Shot (Tone Center – 2011)

Parting Shot (Golpe de Partida) is an extraordinary debut for the guitarist, Steve Khan. He is veteran by any stretch of imagination, but in the company of illustrious peers such as Al Di Meola, Lee Ritenour and others he appears almost self-effacing for this is his first full foray into the realm of the Latin American musical idiom. Khan has always been known for possessing near-perfect technique, which when combined with his whisper-soft [...]

Afrodisian Orchestra – Satierismos (Youkali Music – 2011)

It is hardly surprising that Erik Satie has become the darling of modern composers and musicians alike. The reputedly eccentric French composer who lived between the late-19th and the early 20th Century was very much a musician far ahead of his time. Breaking away from the late-Romantics, Satie predated many movements in various artistic disciplines, from Dadaism and Surrealism in painting; and muzak or elevator music, by fifty years [...]

New CDs – October 2011 – Part 2

Claudio Roditi has just put out a superb recording. Bons Amigos is the work of a true Master, surrounded by his best friends, his very special horns, and his very special bandmates. Piccolo Samba, the track showcased here, couldn’t be more representative of the innovation and creativity of this modern musical genius. As humble as only himself could be, Roditi embodies the best of the best in a Jazz artist [...]