The Ringling's Art of Performance | Yissy García + Jamison Ross

JAZZ PERCUSSION WEEK

YISSY GARCÍA MAR 10 11:00 AM MAR 11 7:30 PM

JAMISON ROSS MAR 12 7:30 PM

2021/22 SEASON

THE ART OF

PERFORMANCE

Each year, the Art of Performance program features expressions of the jazz idiom with some of the most exciting artists of our time. Both fierce rising stars grace the stage of the Historic Asolo Theater with their respective bands sharing samples of Cuban speed jazz contrasted with complex blues and gospel inspired grooves. Yissy García’s stylish and bold Caribbean sounds on juxtaposed with Jamison Ross’ sizzling drums and R&B–rooted vocals are lush and powerful hallmarks of jazz futures.

YISSY GARCÍA AND BANDANCHA YISSY GARCÍA

Drums / Bandleader MAGELA HERRERA

Flute and vocal BRAULIO FERNÁNDEZ

Bass MIGUEL ÁNGEL DE ARMAS

Piano YASMANE SANTOS

Percussion

ARTIST TALK WITH YISSY AND JAMISON MAR 12, 10:30 AM | Chao Lecture Hall Don’t miss this exciting opportunity to meet the artists and hear about their process in an informal conversation.

Moderated by Tihda Vongkoth of Sarasota’s Modern Marimba.

TICKETS + INFORMATION

ringling.org

BIOGRAPHIES YISSY GARCÍA, composer and drummer, is one of the most powerful artists of the new generation of Cuban musicians. Considered one of Cuba’s most dynamic and innovative musicians who defies genre and tradition with every funky groove, she demonstrates the art of combining traps and percussion, drawing from the wealth of Cuban folkloric and popular styles alongside serious jazz and funk. Yissy has quickly become an iconic figure of female percussion in Cuba and beyond, having performed with the likes of Dave Matthews and Esperanza Spalding, and been likened to “the Cuban version of Terri Lyne Carrington” by Tom Tom Magazine. Since 2012 she leads Bandancha, an off-the-charts quintet that follows the routes of Latin jazz, funk, and afro Cuban music. Their first record, Última Noticia (2015), joined the island´s musical scene as a paradigm of the most contemporary sound. She is part of the line up of Maqueque, together with the Canadian sax player Jane Bunnett, whose first record, Jane Bunnett and Maqueque, won the Juno Award to the best Jazz Album and the second record, Oddara, was recently nominated for the Best Latin Jazz GRAMMY® award.

MIGUEL DE ARMAS JR. is a young promising talent: pianist, composer and producer born in Cuba in 1993. He holds a Bachelor degree in Music composition from the High Institute of Arts in Havana, a culmination of a solid musical education of over 15 years. Miguel has has participated in collaborative recording projects by renowned Cuban trumpet player Yassek Manzano, saxophonist Cesar Lopez, pianist Ernan Lopez-Nussa, among others. Miguel has also performed along Cuban legend Leo Brower at Chamber Music Festival in Havana. He has toured extensively internationally across South Africa, the U.S, Europe, and South America and lately at the National Art Center (Ottawa). He has been recipient of first prize in the Composition category at JOJAZZ International. Jazz Festival in Havana 2011. In addition, same year he was awarded the third prize in the Jazz performance category and he also won the first prize at the Piano Performance Competition Amadeo Roldán. Miguel is currently based in Florida (USA) where he has founded “Music Keys Academy” in Miami and help to connect teachers with young students.

YASMANE SANTOS was born in Havana in 1988 and was trained as a music instructor. He was trained as an art (music) instructor. Winner of the second prize for percussion at the famous Festival Tambor in Cuba. He participated in courses on Cuban folk percussion, Brazilian percussion (in São Paulo), classical percussion (Innsbruck, Austria) and African percussion, living for 10 years in Angola, being a percussion teacher and accompanying percussionist for figures of Angolan and International music such as Lenny Stern, Yola Semedo, Anselmo Ralph, Paulo Flores and Show of the Month etc. He currently lives in Miami. His international work is marked by the representation of the North American percussion brands GON BOPS, Innovative Percussion and Soultone Cymbals.

MAGELA HERRERA is a Cuban born flutist, vocalist, composer and recording artist who grew up between two worlds: one, her family’s deep ties to a large set of unique traditions influenced mostly by Afrocuban music; the other, the years she spent learning and studying classical music at the Conservatory of Music in her native Havana. Praised often for her unique background that also includes Euro jazz after having finishing her studies at the Norwegian Academy of Music (Norway) Herrera developed her incredible enchanting and vibrant own sound. Through the years, Herrera has shared the stage with an extensive list of acclaimed international artists including Chucho Valdez (Cuba) ,Ernan Lopez-Nussa, Jan Eggum(Norway) Oslo Chamber Orchestra (Norway) ,Munir Hossn (Brasil) , Ralph Alessis (USA) just to name a few.

BRAULIO FERNÁNDEZ is a bassist and musical director from Cuba. He graduated from the Instituto Superior Pedagogico Felix Varela in Villa Clara with a degree in bass performance and music theory, and has gone on to work with such artists as Amauri Gutierrez, Malena Burkes, Jorge Luis Rodriguez, Armando Manzanero and Emmanual, David Torrens and Willy Colon in the Orquesta de la Ley and Grupo Arte Vivo. He is featured on the recording From Enchantment and Timba to Full Force Jazz by Tony Perez.

DANCE

UPCOMING PERFORMANCE

LIONY GARCIA Spotlight Florida!

Corporeal Decorum APR 15 & 16, 7:30 PM

JAMISON ROSS Vocals/Drums CORY IRVIN Keys RICK (RICHARD) LOLLAR Guitar MAX MORAN Bass

BIOGRAPHIES JAMISON ROSS (Vocals/Drums) is one of the hottest young names in music. A singer and drummer, Jamison’s music shimmers between jazz, R&B, soul, gospel and blues.

Think of a mix of Donny Hathaway and Elvin Jones. One minute you’re enjoying his super-soulful voice, gospel inflections and infectious love of melody; the next you’re digging his grooving, swinging drumming with his band. His 2015 debut release, Jamison, introduced the world to his concept of rhythm and melody and also garnered a GRAMMY® nomination for Best Jazz Vocal Album. His sophomore release, All For One, takes listeners a level deeper into Jamison’s ethos. The album is a result of a personal revelation that “we all have the capacity to love with empathy in a deeper way.”A native of Jacksonville, FL, Jamison’s passion for music was cultivated while growing up in his grandfather’s church, then he completed his BA in Jazz Studies at FSU, later pursuing a Masters in New Orleans, which he now calls home.

MAX MORAN is a Louisiana born musician and composer who has become a firstcall bassist across several genres in New Orleans’ thriving music scene. Known for his versatility on electric bass, upright bass, and synthesizer, Moran provides a solid, soulful foundation to a number of classic and progressive bands. Performing since the age of thirteen, Max Moran spent over ten years as the bassist of jazz master Donald Harrison and has also shared the stage with artists such as Davell Crawford, Leo Nocentelli (The Meters), Bernie Worrell (Parliament/ Funkadelic), and Grammy nominees Christian Scott and Jamison Ross. His band, Neospectric features a rotating cast of over a dozen of New Orleans’ most exciting and virtuosic young instrumentalists whose collective sideman credits include Jonathan Batiste, Big Sam’s Funky Nation, and Solange. Moran also co-leads the award-winning Bridge Trio along with drummer, Joe Dyson and pianist, Conun Pappas. As a student of mentors Donald Harrison and Alvin Battiste, and as a full scholarship student at the Berklee College of Music, Moran has gained an understanding that allows him to excel in a diverse array of musical settings with creativity and stylistic authenticity.

RICK LOLLAR is an Atlanta-based guitarist, singer and songwriter who has united his disparate influences and abilities into a singular musical voice. A native of Tallahassee, Florida, Lollar’s guitar work is raw and blues-drenched yet stamped with the harmonic and rhythmic invention of jazz, is integral to The 5 of 7. But just as central is Lollar’s gritty, expressive singing voice and his gift as a songwriter and lyricist (The 5 of 7 is Herring’s first venture to feature songs with original lyrics).

Before The 5 of 7, Lollar refined his guitar-and-vocal concept with the Rick Lollar Band as well as his funky blues-rock outfit King Baby. Lollar studied jazz at Florida State University where he formed close musical bond with Jamison Ross and Ross’s GRAMMY®-nominated 2015 debut Jamison Ross prominently featured Lollar’s crisp and versatile guitar work; the 2018 follow-up All for One found Lollar sharing a number of songwriting credits with the likeminded Ross, whose music draws from a similarly deep well of soul, blues and jazz.

CORY E. IRVIN is an American musician, song writer and producer. At the tender age of 5 he began taking classical piano lessons in his hometown of Miami, Florida and honed the gift of music. His early influences came from the Pentecostal Sounds gospel music. While attending Miami Northwestern Senior High, he was introduced to Jazz by the legendary band director Christopher Dorsey. Cory later attended Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University where he concentrated on Jazz Studies. It was at this time that he grew as a musical director in a local Tallahassee band called Concept and further developed his leadership as a musical director for LFCC. Full Sail University is where he earned his degree in recording engineering.

He has recorded, toured and played with artists such as Brian McKnight, GRAMMY®-nominated, Jamison Ross, GRAMMY®-nominated Mykal Kilgore, Jonathan Nelson, Teenear, and FloRida. He has also worked with super producer Cannon Lamb and Derek Bigg D Baker.

A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO OUR ART OF PERFORMANCE SPONSORS

This program is supported in part by the Shank Family Curator of Performance Endowment, the Ringling Art of Performance Endowment Fund at the Florida State University Foundation, Frank Brunkhurst III Endowment, Ira and Joan Mendell Ringling Museum Endowment, the John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art Endowment, Publix Supermarket Charities Endowment, and the Ringling Museum General Endowment.

LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The Ringling respectfully acknowledges that we are located on the traditional Homelands and the ancestral territories of the Seminole Tribe of Florida and the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida, as well as the ancient tribes of the Calusa, Uzita and Tocobaga. We also acknowledge the local freedom-seeking community called Angola, and the people later known as Black Seminoles.

We honor the resiliency of Indigenous communities, and we extend our gratitude as we live and work on their Homelands. We pay our respect to the Elders, both past and present, who have stewarded these lands and waters through generations since time immemorial.