Arturo O'Farrill: Upholding the Latin Tinge

R.J. DeLuke

Interviewer since 1999

R.J. DeLuke is an indefatigable jazz fan and arbiter elegantiarum who aspires to ultimate hipness; also an upstate NY freelance writer for various media.

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Published: June 22, 2009

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"It is incredibly important to fight for cultural truth," O'Farrill says. "What's interesting to me is that if you put (the music) into the hands of a guy like Chico O'Farrill or a really gifted composer ... in his hands, you get this thing where he creates pieces that as much listenable-to as danceable-to. It's almost the perfect blend of what jazz is. It's music for the head, it's music for the feet, it's music for the heart, it's music for the hands. It transcends the experience of passive listening.

"Even if you don't dance. Even if you don't move, it becomes something, to me, that really crystallizes the possibilities for music of the new world."

Selected Discography:

Arturo O'Farrill & Claudia Acuna, In These Shoes (Zoho Music, 2008)
Arturo O'Farrill & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, Song for Chico (Zoho Music, 2008)
Arturo O'Farrill, Wonderful Discovery (MEII Enterprises, 2007)
Arturo O'Farrill, Live in Brooklyn (Zoho Music, 2005)
Jazz at Lincoln Center's Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra with Arturo O'Farrill, Una Noche Inolvidable (An Unforgettable Night), (Palmetto Records, 2005)
Jim Seeley/Arturo O'Farrill, The Jim Seeley/Arturo O'Farrill Quintet, (Zoho Music, 2005)
Arturo O'Farrill Trio, Cumana, (Pony Canyon, 2004)
Arturo O'Farrill Trio, Blood Lines, (Milestone, 1999)
Carla Bley Band, I Hate to Sing, (ECM, 1984)