Musica Nueva 3: Latin Jazz Across the Americas

"Musica Nueva 3: Latin Jazz Across the Americas" showcases new works from composers throughout the Americas, including world premieres, part of the ongoing commitment of Symphony Space and the Afro Latin Jazz Alliance to new music through the Sonidos de Colores initiative. This concert has traditionally been an audience favorite and promises to be a peek into the future of the music we call jazz and Latin jazz. Be there when new directions are created!

Performance playlist:

Introduction with Arturo O'Farrill

A Composition
by Michael Mossman

Buenos Aires Blues
Emilio Solla

Big Bad
Michele Rosewoman

Gentleman Barbarian/Conscious State
Bill Ware

Colibri
Edmar Castaneda, arranged by Samuel Torres

Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra feat. DJ Logic

Llegara, Llegara, Llegara
Emilio Solla

Mad Hatter
Vijay Iyer

Cloudy with a Chance of Sunshine
Adam O'Farrill

Iron Jungle
Edmar Castaneda ft. DJ Logic

Cuarto de Colores
Edmar Castaneda, arranged by Samuel Torres

About the Orchestra

The Afro Latin jazz Orchestra led by pianist, director Arturo O'Farrill, is composed of 18 soloists who play classics of the Afro-Latin tradition. It exemplifies the best that Latin jazz culture offers: rich tradition through music and timeless appeal around the world. The Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra became a resident orchestra at Jazz at Lincoln Center in 2002 and toured internationally, bringing the rhythms and heat of Latin jazz at Lincoln Center to pursue its own educational and performance opportunities and is delighted with its new home at Symphony Space. Performing the very best of traditional compositions in the canon of the Afro-Latin genre, the large ensemble commissions new work and leads education events. In 2006, the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra received a Granny nomination for its debut album Una Noche Inolvidable and in 2008 won the Grammy for Best Latin Jazz Album of the year with Song for Chico. 2009-2010 marks their third season of concerts at Symphony Space. The organization seeks to provide an opportunity for a new generation of composers, arrangers and instrumentalists to further explore and define the music.

Arturo O'Farrill, director, pianist, composer, born in Mexico and raised in New York is the recipient of several awards including the Outstanding Achievement in Jazz Award from the Alliance of New York State Arts Organizations. In February, 2009, Arturo's album with the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra Song for Chico rec eived a Grammy Award for "Best Latin Jazz Album." Mr. O'Farrill has received commissions from Meet the Composer, Jazz at Lincoln Center, among others. In addition to directing the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, he leads the band that preserves his father's music, the Chico O'Farrill Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra. Mr. O'Farrill has performed with Dizzy Gillespie, Carla Bley, Lester Bowie, Wynton Marsalis and others.

Edmar Castaneda, composer, harpist, was born in 1978, in the city of Bogota, Columbia. Since his move to the United States in 1994, Edmar has quite literally taken New York and the world stage by storm with the sheer force of his virtuosic command of the harp-revolutionizing the way audiences and critics alike consider an instrument commonly relegated to the "unusual category". A master at realizing beautiful complexities of time, while skillfully drawing out lush colors and dynamic spirit, Edmar has been characterized as "almost a world unto himself." (The New York Times) the legendary Paquito D'Rivera, Edmar's frequent collaborator, has remarked "Edmar is ...an enormous talent, he has the versatility and the enchanting charisma of a musician who has taken his harp out of the shadow to become one of the most original musicians from the Big Apple.

Vijay Iyer, composer, pianist, has released thirteen albums, most recently Historicity which was named #1 jazz album of 2009 by the New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, National Public Radio and the annual Village Voice jazz critics poll. His latest accolades include five Jazz Journalists Association 2010 Jazz Award nominations, and the 2010 Echo award (Germany's version of the Grammy) for best international ensemble with his trio. In the past decade, Iyer won the Downbeat Magazine International Cri tics' Poll in multiple categories, the JJA Jazz Award for Up & coming Musician of the year, the Cal Arts Alpert Award in the Arts, the New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship, and numerous composer commissions. Iyer has joined forces with Steve Coleman, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Mike Ladd, Roscoe Mitchell, Wadada Leo Smith, Amiri Baraka, Butch Morris, Oliver Lake and DJ Spooky, among others.

Adam O'Farrill, composer and trumpeter, 15 years old, is the grandson of Chico O'Farrill and the son of Arturo O'Farrill. At his young age, he has already performed in major jazz venues with artists such as James Moody, Stefan Harris, Curtis Fuller, Arturo O'Farrill, and many others. Recipient of Outstanding Soloist Awards in the 2010 Essentially Ellington Competition, the lst and 2nd Annual Charles Mingus High School Competions, and Downbeat Student Awards. Adam was also chosen as solo trumpet for the 2010 Grammy High School Band. His composition , The Composing Process was premiered last fall by the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra.

DJ Logic, turntablist. Since he emerged from the Bronx hip-hop scene of the early 90's DJ Logic has single handedly proven the theorem of turntablist as musician, crossing genre boundaries throughout his career. He has collaborated with such artists as Vernon Reid, Carly Simon, Christian McBride, Medeski, Martin, and Wood, and jack de Johnette, just to name a few. One of the world's most accomplished turntablists, DJ Logic is widely credited with introducing jazz into the world of hip-hop and is a highly respected session leader, as well as an innovative bandleader.

Michele Rosewoman, composer, pianist, has made her mark in the jazz world as a highly original artist, fusing Afro-Cuban influences with intelligent and modern post-bob. Throughout her varied career, Michele h as performed with such jazz luminaries as Julius Hemphill, Jimmy Heath, Tootie Heath, Julian Priester, Oliver Lake and Reggie Workman, Celia Cruz, Paquito D'Rivera.. Chocolate and Orlando "Puntilla" Rios. AS a bandleader, she has led two ensembles, New Yor-Uba and Quintessence , to tremendous critical acclaim. "No other pianist-composer in jazz brings the music of the African diasppora together quite like Michele Rosewoman. Rosewoman is way past collecting influences. Simply put, she's one of the most creative and fully realized jazz artists on the scene today." (CD Now)

Emilio Solla, composer and pianist, began in 1983 to compose and play his own music, a fusion of modern Argentine tango and folklore with jazz and other contemporary music styles. With six CD's as band leader for the Fresh Sound Records and concerts throughout Europe, Japan, and the US, he is considered one of the most outstanding and personal voices in the musical stream - referred to as "tango-jazz." Solla moved to New York in 2006. Since then he has composed , arranged for and performed with Paquito D'Rivera, Arturo O'Farrill's Big Band and Pablo Aslan's Avantango, among others, besides performing with his Tango Jazz Conspiracy in some of the main New York City venues, including Jazz Standard and Dizzy's.

Bill Ware, composer and pianist was a mover and shaker on the downtown New York scene during the ‘80s and 90s, playing both advanced post-bop and grooving, revivalist jazzfunk. Bill Ware III was born in East Orange, NJ, on January 28, 1959. Ware started out as a bass player, and later trained on vibes at the Harlem Jazzmobile Workshop. Throughout the ‘90s and early 2000's Ware toured and performed in the USA, Europe, Canada, Japan, New Zealand and China with Groove Collective, The Jazz Passengers, Steely Dan, Vibes trio, and the Rising Sun Band. He recorded on more than 50 CD"s, and many movie sound tracks. Bill has performed/recorded with Deborah Harry, Steely Dan, Elvis Costello, Little Jimmy Scott, Steve Turre, Jeff Buckley, Mavis Staples, John Modeski, Joe Lavano, Frank Foster, Teruo Nakamura, Marc Ribot, Chris Stein, Roberto Borrel, Butch Morris, Victor Jones, CC Peniston, Marshall Crenshaw, Tony Williams, Bernie Worrel, Janis Seigel and David Byrne.