CANDLER CONCERT SERIES JANE BUNNETT AND MAQUEQUE Virtual Concert Friday, October 2, 2020 at 8 p.m. Schwartz Center for Performing Arts
This exclusive virtual concert is presented by the Schwartz Center for Performing Arts schwartz.emory.edu/virtual-stage Box Office/Audience Information 404.727.5050 • schwartz.emory.edu
Photographs and Recordings Digital capture or recording of this concert is not permitted. Event and Program Information Available online at schwartz.emory.edu Jane Bunnett and Maqueque Photos By Rick McGinnis Acknowledgment Eternal thanks to Donna and Marvin Schwartz for their many contributions.
This program is made possible by a generous gift from the late Flora Glenn Candler, a friend and patron of music at Emory University.
2020–2021
CANDLER CONCERT SERIES
Jane Bunnett and Maqueque Jane Bunnett, soprano saxophone and flute Joanna Tendai Majoko, vocals Yissy García Calzadilla, drums Tailin Marrero, acoustic and electric bass Dánae Olano Garcia, piano Mary de la Paz Fernandez, congas and vocals Friday, October 2, 2020, 8:00 p.m.
Program (Program notes in parenthesis from Jane Bunnett.)
Little Feet (I wrote this song and dedicated it to my two nieces . . . who graciously give me their barely worn shoes because I have little feet. It appears on our Grammy Nominated CD Oddara.)
Maqueque (I wrote this song and named it after both our group and our first CD. Maqueque, the album, won us a Juno Award [Canadian Grammy] in 2015.)
Ain’t No Sunshine (The great late Bill Withers song performed in a Cuban fashion.)
Re encuentro (This song, written by our pianist Dánae Olano, translates to “Reunion” or “Meeting.” It appears on our new CD On Firm Ground.)
Habana de Noche (Havana at Night) (Written by our drummer Yissy García, this Juno Award–nominated song is performed in the Bolero style. It appears on our new CD On Firm Ground.)
La Linea (I wrote this song and it translates to “The Lineup.” Done in a timba style, it appears on our new CD On Firm Ground.)
On Firm Ground (This song, written by our pianist Dánae Olano, is inspired by the great Woody Guthrie. It also appears on our new CD.)
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Maqueque
Left to right: Joanna Tendai Majoko, Yissy García Calzadilla, Jane Bunnett, Tailin Marrero, Dánae Olano Garcia, and Mary de la Paz Fernandez.
Jane Bunnett and Maqueque has evolved—in less than five years—from a project to support, honor, and mentor a new generation of women jazz players and composers to a Grammy-nominated, critically acclaimed band that is in demand at major jazz festivals around the world. This all-female collective is led by veteran jazz icon, saxophonist, flutist, composer, and proud Canadian Jane Bunnett. With five Juno awards, three Grammy nominations, and an Officer of the Order of Canada (Canada’s highest civilian award), Bunnett has dedicated herself to bringing Maqueque to the world. Now, with hard work, virtuosity, and chemistry, the group is performing for international audiences with power and joy; Bunnett’s dream is alive and thriving. The band’s third album release, On Firm Ground/Tierra Firme, is a bold testament to the strength and originality of Jane Bunnett and Maqueque. Prior to recording On Firm Ground, the artists developed their strengths by touring throughout Canada’s Yukon, Colombia, Brazil, Cuba, Panama, 5
and to major United States jazz festivals and clubs including Newport, Monterey, Saratoga, Birdland, and Lincoln Center. NPR’s Jazz Night in America has featured Maqueque in a one-hour program “The New Queens of Afro-Cuban Jazz.” A New Yorker piece titled “The New Vanguard of Women in Cuban Jazz,” featuring members of Maqueque, described Bunnett’s role as a mentor and inspiration to the burgeoning scene of young women in Cuba. Maqueque’s first two European tours cemented its reputation internationally. Five-time Juno Award–winner Jane Bunnett has turned her bands and recordings into showcases for the finest musical talent from Canada, the United States, and Cuba. She has been nominated for three Grammy Awards, received the Order of Canada, the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal, and most recently, the Premier’s Award for Excellence. With Maqueque, Bunnett has created something new and phenomenal in the world of jazz. What began as a project to record and mentor young brilliant Cuban female musicians has become one of the top groups in the North American jazz scene. The band has played in major jazz festivals including Newport and Monterey, been featured on NPR’s Jazz Night in America, nominated for a Grammy Award for its release Oddara, and most recently voted as one of the top 10 jazz groups by the prestigious DownBeat magazine’s critics poll. An internationally acclaimed musician, Bunnett is known for her creative integrity, improvisational daring, and courageous artistry. Her exploration of Afro-Cuban melodies expresses the universality of music, and her ability to embrace and showcase the rhythms and culture of Cuba has been groundbreaking. She has toured the world bringing her own special sound to numerous jazz festivals, displaying her versatility as a flutist, saxophonist, and pianist. Two documentaries have been made about Bunnett’s work. Spirits of Havana by the National Film Board was presented at numerous film festivals internationally and on television (CBC, PBS). Embracing Voices, a feature documentary film by Elisa Paloschi, was introduced at film festivals and released commercially in 2012. As an educator, spokesperson, and social activist, Bunnett is unafraid to explore uncharted territory in her quest for excellence.
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Pianist Dánae Olano was born and raised in Havana, Cuba. She began her music studies at age seven at Alejandro García Caturla Music School. Her training continued at the Amadeo Roldan Conservatory at Havana Music School and she later graduated from the University of Arts with a piano cum laude as an accompanying and solo pianist. Olano went on to participate in several piano contests including Amadeo Roldan, UNEAC, and the Musicalia International Piano Competition. She has received multiple awards for her performances as a classical pianist. While studying at the university, Olano’s professional career also began to bloom. She worked in theater music as part of recognized companies like El Ingenio and Teatro de la Luna. She immersed herself in jazz music and cofounded several bands including Alami, with singer Dayme Arocena, and Banda XX, conducted by drummer Yissy García. In 2013, Olano was also a founding member of the all-female band Jane Bunnett and Maqueque, which has gone on to achieve a Juno Award and a Grammy nomination. In addition to being the band’s pianist, she sings, composes, and arranges. Olano has performed in some of the most prestigious jazz clubs including Birdland, Blue Note, and Bimhuis; and at jazz festivals including Monterey, Newport, and Saratoga, among others. Focusing on the roots of the Cuban piano and following the legacy of the masters is a personal quest for Olano. In 2018, she shared the stage at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts with pianists Jason Moran, James Francis, Booker T. Jones, and Jane Bunnett as part of NPR’s A Jazz Piano Christmas hosted by Felix Contreras. Olano is based in Toronto and frequently performs with fellow local musicians. Joanna Majoko has been captivating audiences with her voice since age 14. Born to parents of German and Zimbabwean descent, Majoko grew up in a culturally diverse home—a home that moved from Germany to Zimbabwe, and eventually to Canada in 2001. In her youth, she was exposed to a rich practice of music and dance, participating in everything from choirs, musicals, and drum ensembles to traditional Zimbabwean dance groups. After relocating to central Canada, Majoko continued to involve herself in the arts. Her growing love of jazz brought her to Winnipeg, Manitoba, where she graduated in 2014 from the jazz studies program at the University of Manitoba’s Desautels Faculty of Music. 7
Although her greatest affinity is jazz, Majoko is versatile in many musical genres. She has worked with accomplished Canadian and American recording artists including Grammy Award–nominated artist and drummer Ulysses Owens Jr., multiple Juno Award–winner and Grammy Award–nominated jazz luminary Jane Bunnett, Canada’s hip-hop sensation the Lytics, and Juno and Grammy Award–winner and Canadian Hall of Fame inductee David Clayton-Thomas. In addition to her talents as a vocalist, Majoko is a passionate composer and arranger, achieving a unified and unmistakable sound characteristic of smooth syncopations, airy melodies, colorful rhythms, and a sophisticated harmonic palette. Majoko is currently working on her debut EP, a body of work that she hopes will showcase her authentic sound and style. Majoko now calls Toronto home. She continues to build a name for herself as a solo voice, showcasing her original music and talents throughout the city’s vibrant music scene, working closely with many of Toronto’s musical heavyweights. Tailin Marrero Zamora, originally from Güines, Mayabeque, Cuba, was born in 1991. She began her music studies at the Juan Pablo Duarte vocational school of music and later graduated from the National School of Music, where she focused on both classical guitar and electric bass. Marrero then began to develop her professional career by playing with some of the best-known artists in her country including Aceituna sin Hueso, David Torrens, Raúl Paz, Descemer Bueno, Bobby Carcassés, Tanmy Lopez, Telmary Díaz, Polito Ibáñez, Kelvis Ochoa, Oliver Valdes, La Camerata Romeu, Mauricio Figueral, Luis Alberto Barbería (Habana Abierta), Brenda Navarrete, Roberto Carcasses, and Interactivo (with whom she acts as singer, composer, bassist, and arranger). She also performs with international artists including the Canadian group Jane Bunnett and Maqueque, Spanish artist Concha Buika, and Argentinian artist Daniela Spalla. Today, as a musician who has explored different musical styles, she not only finds herself playing both the acoustic and electric bass, but also singing, composing, and arranging in some of the top bands in Cuba and worldwide with Jane Bunnett and Maqueque.
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Drummer and composer Yissy García is one of the most respected artists to emerge from a particularly exciting new generation of Cuban musicians. Considered the island’s most prominent female percussionist and one of its most dynamic and innovative performers, García demonstrates the art of combining traps and percussion, drawing from both folkloric and popular Cuban music, as well as contemporary jazz and funk styles. Garcia has performed extensively—throughout the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia, France, Spain, Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay—with celebrated artists such as Dave Matthews, Esperanza Spalding, Joshua Bell, Omara Portuondo, and Carlos Varela. She has been described by Tom Tom Magazine (a New York-based women’s percussion quarterly) as Cuba’s answer to Terri Lyne Carrington, and by Jazz Times as “ . . . a star in the making.” Since 2012, García has led Bandancha, a highly innovative quintet that combines Latin jazz, funk, hip-hop, and Cuban music styles. Its first album, Última Noticia (2015), was critically acclaimed. García and the band have appeared at some of most important venues in the United States, including a memorable session at NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert (May 2018) and in performances at Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, the Los Angeles Music Center, and SXSW in Austin, Texas. She recently restructured Bandancha, dropping her DJ in favor of more traditional Cuban percussion, and showcased its new sound at the prestigious Circulart 2018 (a Latin American indie music market). Two singles (Arroz con mango and Arrollando) and an EP of new songs released in 2019. García is also a member of the celebrated women’s band, Maqueque, who’s album Oddara (2017) was nominated for the Best Latin Jazz Album Grammy Award. Mary Paz joined Diakara, directed by Oscar Valdes, at age 18 as a percussionist and singer. Between 2011 and 2014, she simultaneously played in several bands, including Interactivo and a quartet with bass player Jorge Reyes, Bobby Carcassés, and pianist Jorge Aragon. In 2014, she founded her own project, Mary Paz and Electro Percussion. In 2016, she was DJ, composer, arranger, and percussionist for the show Vamos Cuba with the dance company Rakatan, and she played with Julito Padron, Cucurucho Valdés, and Rodney Barreto, among other important musicians. She has played with Max Cilla and Marcus Miller at L’Espace Niemeyer. At present, she performs with the Maqueque project directed by Jane Bunnett. 9
Photo by Mark Teague
Schwartz Center Staff
Rachael Brightwell, Managing Director Terry Adams, Box Office Coordinator Lisa Baron, Communications Specialist Carrie Christie, Program Coordinator Kathryn Colegrove, Associate Director for Programming and Outreach Lewis Fuller, Associate Director for Production and Operations Jennifer Kimball, Assistant Stage Manager Jeff Lenhard, Operations Assistant Alan Strange, Box Office Manager Nicholas Surbey, Senior Graphic Designer Mark Teague, Stage Manager Nina Vestal, House Manager Matt Williamson, Multimedia Specialist The Schwartz Center gratefully acknowledges the generous ongoing support of Donna and Marvin Schwartz. To support tthis program, visit schwartz.emory.edu/give.
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More events coming soon to the Schwartz Center Virtual Stage schwartz.emory.edu/virtual-stage ECMSA Beethoven String Quartets October 3, 2020 at 8 p.m. The Vega String Quartet continues their exploration of the complete Beethoven String Quartets including ops. 18, No. 6; 74; and 132 with guest first violin David Coucheron. Award-winning classical music radio host Bill McGlaughlin gives an accompanying lecture.
Happy Birthday, Mr. Beethoven! October 18, 2020 at 4 p.m. Celebrate Beethoven’s 250th birthday with some special birthday music performed by members of the Vega String Quartet and pianist William Ransom. This concert is part of the ECMSA Family Series. It is also a featured concert of the Beethoven 2020 celebration year.
Third Coast Percussion
Photo by Saverio Truglia
November 13, 2020 at 8 p.m. Grammy Award–winning, Chicago-based percussion quartet, Third Coast Percussion has created exciting and unexpected performances that constantly redefine the classical music experience. In this exclusive concert livestreamed from Chicago, the ensemble performs works from Perpetulum, a Philip Glass score the Chicago Tribune calls “rich in musical incident, its meters and textures constantly changing, its embrace of pitched and non-pitched instrumentation immensely appealing to hear.” 11
CANDLER CONCERT SERIES The Flora Glenn Candler Concert Series brings internationally-renowned artists to Emory University's Schwartz Center for Performing Arts—to the Emerson Concert Hall or the online virtual stage. The artists come from a variety of musical genres including traditional classical ensembles, such as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and contemporary artists, like Kronos Quartet. The series is made possible by a generous gift from the late Flora Glenn Candler, a friend and patron of music at Emory University. 12