Arturo O'Farrill & The Afro Latin Jazz Ensemble

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THE AFRO LATIN JAZZ ENSEMBLE

T

he Afro Latin Jazz Ensemble (ALJE) is an octet made up of some of the most virtuosic musicians in jazz today, with a repertoire that honors the pioneers of Latin jazz, like Mario Bauzá and Tito Puente, while progressing the music by performing contemporary compositions of the genre. Over the past several years, pianist and Musical Director Arturo O’Farrill and the ALJE have developed an ongoing artistic collaboration with the Malpaso Dance Company from Havana, Cuba, creating and performing several distinctive programs including “Dreaming of Lions,” “Despedida,” and “24 Hours and a Dog.” Much of this work will

be featured on the ensemble’s debut album scheduled for release this year. The ALJE has performed internationally to critical acclaim, playing such festivals as the Cubadisco Festival (Havana, Cuba), the Luminato Festival (Toronto, Canada), Aperitivo in Concerto (Milán, Italy), Kampnagel Internationales Sommerfestival (Hamburg, Germany), and the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival (Becket, Massachusetts). The Afro Latin Jazz Ensemble features Arturo O’Farrill on piano, Vince Cherico on drums, Liany Mateo on bass, Carlos Maldonado and Keisel Jiménez on percussion, Rafi Malkiel on trombone, Iván Renta on tenor saxophone, and Jim Seeley on trumpet.

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ARTURO O’FARRILL & THE AFRO LATIN JAZZ ENSEMBLE FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2022 AT 8 PM AT ORCHESTRA HALL

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ARTURO O’FARRILL

P Terence Blanchard, Fred A. Erb Jazz Creative Director Chair

PARADISE JAZZ SERIES Friday, November 18, 2022 at 8 p.m. at Orchestra Hall

ARTURO O’FARRILL & THE AFRO LATIN JAZZ ENSEMBLE ARTURO O’FARRILL, piano VINCE CHERICO, drums LIANY MATEO, bass CARLOS MALDONADO, percussion KEISEL JIMÉNEZ, percussion RAFI MALKIEL, trombone IVÁN RENTA, tenor saxophone JIM SEELEY, trumpet

Program to be announced from the stage.

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2022–2023 SERIES

Find upcoming concerts at dso.org/jazz

ianist, composer, and educator Arturo O’Farrill was born in Mexico and grew up in New York City. O’Farrill’s professional career began with the Carla Bley Band and continued as a solo performer with a wide spectrum of artists including Dizzy Gillespie, Lester Bowie, Wynton Marsalis, and Harry Belafonte.

In 2007, he founded the Afro Latin Jazz Alliance as a not-forprofit organization dedicated to the performance, education, and preservation of Afro Latin music.

In December 2010, O’Farrill traveled to Cuba with the original Chico O’Farrill Afro Cuban Jazz Orchestra, returning his father’s musicians to his homeland.

He continues to travel to Cuba regularly as an informal Cultural Ambassador, working with Cuban musicians, dancers, and students, bringing local musicians from Cuba to the US and American musicians to Cuba.

O’Farrill has performed with orchestras and bands including his own Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra and the Arturo O’Farrill Sextet, as well as other orchestras and intimate ensembles in the US, Europe, Russia, Australia, and South America.

An avid supporter of the arts, O’Farrill has performed with Ballet Hispanico and the Malpaso Dance Company, for whom he has written three ballets. In addition, the Alvin Ailey Dance Company has toured a ballet entitled Open Door, which was choreographed by Ron Brown to several of O’Farrill’s compositions and recordings. Ron Brown’s own Evidence Dance Company commissioned O’Farrill to compose New Conversations, which

premiered at Jacob’s Pillow in Becket, Massachusetts.

O’Farrill has received commissions from Meet the Composer, Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Philadelphia Music Project, The Apollo Theater, Symphony Space, the Bronx Museum of the Arts, the Young Peoples Chorus of New York, Columbia University, and the New York State Council on the Arts.

O’Farrill’s well-reviewed and highly praised Afro-Latin Jazz Suite from the album CUBA: The Conversation Continues (Motéma) won the 2016 Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition and the 2016 Latin Grammy Award for Best Latin Jazz Album. His powerful “Three Revolutions” from the album Familia-Tribute to Chico and Bebo won the 2018 Grammy Award (his sixth) for Best Instrumental Composition. O’Farrill’s latest album, Four Questions (ZOHO), is the first to embody all original compositions, including the title track, which features the brilliant orator Dr. Cornel West.

In 2019, O’Farrill was Artist in Residence for The Greene Space in New York City, for which he created a fourconcert series titled “Radical Acts and Musical Deviancy,” including a newly commissioned composition.

In 2020, O’Farrill’s weekly concerts with the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, dubbed “Virtual Birdland,” top the list of 10 Best Quarantine Concerts in The New York Times.

O’Farrill is Professor of Global Jazz Studies and Assistant Dean for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and has been honored as a Steinway Artist for many years.

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