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Arturo O'Farrill

2015 Grammy Nominee & 2014 Latin Grammy Award Winner Arturo O'Farrill, an Winner of the Latin Jazz USA Outstanding Achievement Award for 2003, was born in Mexico and grew up in New York City. In 2002, Mr. O'Farrill and Wynton Marsalis created the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra for Jazz at Lincoln Center due in part to a large and very demanding body of substantial music in the genre of Latin and Afro Cuban Jazz that deserves to be much more widely appreciated and experienced by the general jazz audience. His debut album with the Orchestra "Una Noche Inolvidable" earned a GRAMMY award nomination in 2006. Educated at the Manhattan School of Music, Brooklyn College Conservatory, and the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College, Mr. O'Farrill played piano with the Carla Bley Big Band from 1979 through 1983. He then went on to develop as a solo performer with a wide spectrum of artists including Dizzy Gillespie, Steve Turre, Freddy Cole, The Fort Apache Band, Lester Bowie, Wynton Marsalis, and Harry Belafonte.

In 1995 Mr. O'Farrill agreed to direct the band that preserved much of his father's music, Chico O'Farrill's Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra, which has been in residence at Birdland, New York City's famed nightclub, for the past nine years, as well as performing throughout the world as a solo artist and with his smaller groups. Besides recording five albums as a leader for Milestone Records, 32 Jazz, Zoho and M & I (Bloodlines, A Night in Tunisia, Cumana Bop, Live in Brooklyn and The Jim Seeley/Arturo O'Farrill Quintet), Mr. O'Farrill has appeared on numerous recordsincluding the Grammy-nominated Heart of a Legend, Carambola, and the soundtrack tothe critically acclaimed movie Calle 54. Mr. O'Farrill was a special guest soloist at threelandmark Jazz at Lincoln Center concerts— Afro-Cuban Jazz: Chico O'Farrill's Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra, November 1995; Con Alma: The Latin Tinge in Big BandJazz, September 1998; and the 2001 Jazz at Lincoln Center Gala: The Spirit of TitoPuente, November 2001. In the Spring and Fall of 2002, he was also the featured artistin Jazz at Lincoln Center's Jazz in the Schools Tour, when he led a Latin jazz quintetfor more than 50 educational performances that reached over 10,000 students in NYC metropolitan area schools. As an educator, he has taught master classes, seminars and workshops throughout the world for students and teachers of all levels. Recently, Mr. O'Farrill received the Distinguished Alumnus Medal from Brooklyn College and served as the Alan and Wendy Pesky Artist in Residence at Lafayette College.

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Album Review

Claudia Acuna: Duo

Read "Duo" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi


Alcuni classici della canzone popolare latina costituiscono il nucleo del sesto disco da leader di Claudia Acuña. In questa celebrazione la cantante cilena ha coinvolto sette protagonisti del jazz contemporaneo in altrettante esecuzioni in duo caratterizzate da palpitante relazione con la loro identità tradizionale. I due brani conclusivi sono cantati in inglese e la vedono piena protagonista: “Cristal Silence" di Chick Corea è cantato a cappella; “YO" è una sua composizione originale eseguita con un sottofondo percussivo. ...

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Multiple Reviews

3x3: Jazz Trios Playful and Pensive

Read "3x3:  Jazz Trios Playful and Pensive" reviewed by John Chacona


Can we finally retire the assertion that we are living in a Golden Age of the jazz piano trio? It seems like every month brings trio dates of such imagination and accomplishment as to render superlatives beside the point. These three recordings released in an eight-week period in Spring 2023 are a reminder that one of the most venerable formations in jazz continues to be a laboratory for innovation. Drawing from a kaleidoscope of tone and mood from playful to ...

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Album Review

Alexis Parsons: Alexis

Read "Alexis" reviewed by Richard J Salvucci


Alexis Parsons is an honest-to-goodness jazz singer. She has considerable vocal chops, a wide range and great time. She usually comes in right on or slightly behind the beat. Except when she does not. Which makes for considerable contrast and interest. Her sense of drama is apropos ("Organ Grinder" may be the sole exception, but de gustibus) and you often have the sense you are listening to an instrumentalist rather than a singer. Or to put it differently, Ms Parsons ...

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Album Review

Alexis Parsons: Alexis

Read "Alexis" reviewed by Jack Bowers


The self-named Alexis is the third album by New York-based vocalist Alexis Parsons. To showcase her talents, she has chosen a medley of standards (half a dozen) and lesser-known but engaging originals, opening and closing with the Cole Porter classics “Easy to Love" and “In the Still of the Night." Rodgers and Hart, the Gershwins, Kurt Weill, Astrud Gilberto and even Franz Schubert are also represented. For back-up, Parsons employs two trios—pianist David Berkman, bassist Drew Gress and drummer Matt ...

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Album Review

Arturo O'Farrill & The Afro-Latin Jazz Ensemble: Dreaming In Lions

Read "Dreaming In Lions" reviewed by Chris May


Music for dance comes in a variety of forms. At one end of the spectrum are abstract soundscapes composed without reference to the choreography with which they share the stage; an example being John Cage's work with the choreographer Merce Cunningham. At the other end of the spectrum is music written in close collaboration with the choreographer; an example being Igor Stravinsky's work for Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, which reached its peak in 1910 with The Firebird, jointly realized by ...

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Album Review

Arturo O'Farrill: Virtual Birdland

Read "Virtual Birdland" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Whenever an obstacle presents itself--even one as devastating and disruptive as a global pandemic--it's a sure bet that musicians will find a way around it, a way to keep making music even in the most grievous circumstances. Jazz musicians have been especially creative during the Covid-19 scourge, using social media, the internet and any other means at their disposal to share their music with the world. True, the paychecks aren't as large or as regular as once they were, but ...

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Album Review

Arturo O'Farrill: Four Questions

Read "Four Questions" reviewed by Jerome Wilson


Surprisingly this set marks the first time Arturo O'Farrill has recorded a set of solely his own compositions. It was worth the wait because this music, played by his Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, really demonstrates the cinematic sweep and variety of his writing. The set is constructed around two topical extended works. The first, “Four Questions," is based on four questions about the struggle for human rights and personal dignity first posed by African-American author W.E.B. DuBois in ...

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Video / DVD

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Arturo O'Farrill's Afro-Cuban jazz legacy

StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Arturo O'Farrill's Afro-Cuban jazz legacy

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman

Today, our video spotlight shines on pianist, composer and bandleader Arturo O'Farrill, who's coming to town to perform this coming Wednesday, May 1 and Thursday, May 2 at Jazz St. Louis. The son of famed musician, arranger, bandleader and Afro-Cuban jazz pioneer Chico O'Farrill, Arturo O'Farrill was born in 1960 in Mexico City and moved with his family in 1965 to New York. He first gained wide exposure at age 19 as part of pianist and composer Carla Bley's band, ...

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Crowdfunding Campaign

Grammy Winner, Arturo O'Farrill Launches "The Cornel West Concerto" Project On FanFunded

Grammy Winner, Arturo O'Farrill Launches "The Cornel West Concerto" Project On FanFunded

Source: Brian Camelio

FanFunded is proud to announce Arturo O’Farrill’s new project, The Cornell West Concerto. The project is a result of the collaborative efforts of four-time Grammy winner, Arturo O’Farrill, and award-winning author and Grammy nominee Dr. Cornel West. The piece was commissioned by the Apollo Theater in May 2016. The Cornell West Concerto is a tour-de-force musical and oratorical plea for justice, love, and respect... with text by Dr. Cornel West- based on questions proposed by W.E.B. Dubois at the turn ...

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Performance / Tour

Jazz this week: Arturo O'Farrill Sextet, Fidel Morales Trio, and more

Jazz this week: Arturo O'Farrill Sextet, Fidel Morales Trio, and more

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman

This week's menu of live jazz and creative music in St. Louis has a bit of what Jelly Roll Morton once called “the Latin tinge," with two different touring Latin-jazz performers passing through town, plus the usual variety of local sounds, from Gypsy jazz and big band swing to funkified Beatles and New Orleans-style brass. Let's go to the highlights... Wednesday, January 21 Tonight, pianist Arturo O’Farrill (pictured, top left) and his sextet will make their debut at Jazz at ...

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Education

Jimmy Heath, Arturo O'Farrill, Jane Monheit in Educational Concerts at Usdan Center

Jimmy Heath, Arturo O'Farrill, Jane Monheit in Educational Concerts at Usdan Center

Source: Reva Cooper

Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts, the Long Island summer arts day camp whose alumni include Natalie Portman, Seth Rudetsky, Mariah Carey and many other stars, is presenting its Festival Concerts for the season. These are a special feature of the Center: private, on-site daily educational performances by distinguished artists for students in Usdan's 1,000-seat McKinley Ampitheater. Many of the artists will also teach workshops and master classes during the season. Jazz artists this year include: On Monday ...

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Performance / Tour

Arturo O'Farrill Trio Performs at Regattabar Jazz Club in Cambridge on Friday, June 10

Arturo O'Farrill Trio Performs at Regattabar Jazz Club in Cambridge on Friday, June 10

Source: MassJazz: Jazz in Massachusetts

Jazz pianist Arturo O'Farrill is performing with his trio—Ruben Rodriguez on bass and Vince Cherico on drums—at the Regattabar Jazz Club at the Charles Hotel in Harvard Square on Friday, June 10, 2011 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets to the show are $20 and can be ordered online. A renowned performer, educator and expert on Afro-Latin jazz, O'Farrill was born in Mexico and grew up in New York City. His father, Chico O'Farrill, was leader of the famous Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra. ...

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Performance / Tour

Arturo O'Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra to Premiere New Work with 115-Voice Choir at Free NYC Music Marathon.

Arturo O'Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra to Premiere New Work with 115-Voice Choir at Free NYC Music Marathon.

Source: Two for the Show Media

The Afro Latin Jazz Alliance and Symphony Space in New York City will present pianist/composer Arturo O'Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra on May 14, 2011, at 9:30 PM. The free event is part of Wall to Wall Sonidos, the culmination of a yearlong multi-disciplinary programming initiative focusing on Latino arts and culture at Symphony Space, located at 95th Street and Broadway. The marathon's closing segment, “Si Cuba," will feature the world premiere of O'Farrill's “A Still Small Voice," ...

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Interview

Latin Jazz Conversations: Arturo O'Farrill (Part 5)

Latin Jazz Conversations: Arturo O'Farrill (Part 5)

Source: The Latin Jazz Corner by Chip Boaz

The idea of making a statement is given a lot of lip service in the jazz world, but little thought goes into the impact of that statement. Most times, people consider improvisational solos to be the major statements in jazz, and in a sense, that's true. Musical choices in improvisation say a lot about an individual's personality, culture, and identity; their public displays make an impact upon the people that experience their performances. Jazz can be more influential than any ...

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Interview

Latin Jazz Conversations: Arturo O'Farrill (Part 4)

Latin Jazz Conversations: Arturo O'Farrill (Part 4)

Source: The Latin Jazz Corner by Chip Boaz

Life is certainly an endless circle of possibilities; whenever we see an ending, it's always likely to find a new beginning. The artistic world seems filled with an inherently frustrating series of roadblocks, derailing finely tuned plans for new directions. Some individuals see this as an ending point to further artistic work and simply stop any forward motion. Creative minds look past ending points though, always finding new and inspiring directions that insure artistic continuity. This forward-looking attitude may not ...

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Interview

Latin Jazz Conversations: Arturo O'Farrill (Part 3)

Latin Jazz Conversations: Arturo O'Farrill (Part 3)

Source: The Latin Jazz Corner by Chip Boaz

Entry points into jazz area vital part of the relationship between musicians and the general audience. As jazz moves further out of popular culture, artists need to find a way to invite listeners back into the fold. In doing this, they need to reach beyond the academic beauty of jazz, and create the bridge between hearing and really feeling the music. At the same time, these entry points need to be natural and honest, maintaining the music's integrity. It takes ...

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Interview

Latin Jazz Conversations: Arturo O'Farrill (Part 2)

Latin Jazz Conversations: Arturo O'Farrill (Part 2)

Source: The Latin Jazz Corner by Chip Boaz

Individuals find their way into music for a variety of reasons, but they eventually discover a prime motivating factor that allows them to continue. For some musicians, the community aspect of the art form evolves into a lifestyle that not only pays their bills, but also defines their social circles. Demand for a musician's abilities lead towards significant financial gains, and their further explorations into music reflect their desire to make more money. A small number of musicians strive towards ...

"That he's a great pianist and bandleader is without question, but Arturo O'Farrill is also a critical thinker, a wit, a virtuoso modernist who knows how to have fun onstage. His late father, the pioneer Cuban bandleader Chico O'Farrill, left a daunting legacy. But O'Farrill honors that by seeking new possibilities." – The Village Voice

"Arturo O’Farrill’s Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra is one of the best jazz orchestras in existence, a powerhouse outfit whose precise section work is enhanced by thrilling soloists." – The New Yorker

"Mr. O’Farrill has honed the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra to handle dizzyingly complex music with earthy joy." – The New York Times

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Concerts

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Duo

Ropeadope
2022

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Virtual Birdland

Zoho Music
2021

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Dreaming In Lions

Blue Note Records
2021

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Alexis

New Artists Records
2021

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Four Questions

Zoho Music
2020

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Familia: Tribute to...

Motéma Music
2017

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Videos

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