Elio Villafranca
Born in the Pinar del Río province of Cuba, Steinway Artist, Grammy Nominated, and 2014 Jalc Millennium Swing Award! recipient pianist and composer Elio Villafranca was classically trained in percussion and composition at the Instituto Superior de Arte in Havana, Cuba.
Since his arrival in the U.S. in mid 1995, Elio Villafranca is at the forefront of the latest generation of remarkable pianists, composers and bandleaders. His concert Letters to Mother Africa was selected by NYC Jazz Record as Best Concerts in 2016. In 2015, Mr. Villafranca was among the 5 pianists hand picked by Chick Corea to perform at the first Chick Corea Jazz Festival, curated by Chick him self at JALC. Elio Villafranca’s new album Caribbean Tinge (Motema), received a 2014 Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik Nomination by the German Records Critics Award, as well has been selected by JazzTimes and DownBeat magazines for a feature on their very competitive section Editor’s Pick. He also received a 2010 Grammy Nomination in the Best Latin Jazz Album of the Year category. In 2008 The Jazz Corner nominated Elio Villafranca as pianist of the year. That year, Mr. Villafranca was also honored by BMI with the BMI Jazz Guaranty Award and received the first NFA/Heineken Green Ribbon Master Artist Music Grant for the creation of his Concerto for Mariachi, for Afro-Cuban Percussion and Symphony Orchestra. Finally, his first album, Incantations/ Encantaciones, featuring Pat Martino, Terell Stafford, and Dafnis Prieto was ranked amongst the 50 best jazz albums of the year by JazzTimes magazine in 2003.
Over the years Elio Villafranca has recorded and performed nationally and internationally as a leader, featuring jazz master artists such as Pat Martino, Terell Stafford, Billy Hart, Paquito D’Rivera, Eric Alexander, and Lewis Nash, David Murray, and Wynton Marsalis among other. As a sideman Elio Villafranca has collaborated with leading jazz and Latin jazz artists including: Chick Corea, Jon Faddis, Billy Harper, Sonny Fortune, Giovanni Hidalgo, Miguel Zenón, and Johnny Pacheco among others.
This year, 2017 Elio Villafranca received The Sunshine Award, founded in 1989 to recognize excellence in the performing arts, education, science and sports of the various Caribbean countries, South America, Centro America, and Africa. He is based in New York City and he is a faculty member of Temple University, Philadelphia, The Juilliard School of Music, New York University, and Manhattan School of Music in NYC.
Gear
Acoustic Grand Piano (Steinway)
Tags
Album Review
- Incantations Encantaciones by Javier AQ Ortiz
- The Source In Between by Marcia Hillman
Interview
Album Review
- Dos Y Mas by Dan Bilawsky
Extended Analysis
New York Beat
Catching Up With
Radio & Podcasts
Album Review
- Cinque by Maurizio Zerbo
Radio & Podcasts
Read more articlesSeptember 09, 2022
Get A Taste Of Elio Villafranca's Upcoming Release 'Standing By The...
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Multi-Grammy Nominee & Guggenheim Fellow Elio Villafranca 'Standing By...
September 30, 2021
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October 20, 2020
Cuban Pianist Elio Villafranca New Children's Book: Who Ate The Pie?
August 04, 2020
Eva Cortés New Release - Todas Las Voces - Features Christian McBride,...
December 28, 2019
2019 Grammy Nominee Elio Villafranca & The Jass Synopators Featuring...
October 09, 2019
Elio Villafranca Quintet Makes Their Debut At Smoke On October 24-27!
May 10, 2019
Elio Villafranca Free Concert In Da Bronx On May 28th At 6pm - Debuts...
December 07, 2018
Elio Villafranca's Cinque Nominated For 2019 Grammy Award As Best...
Jazz Times Magazine 2003 Critics Picks Top 50 Best Jazz Album "Growing up next door to a local cultural center... surely help to develop his loaded, technically superior, sharp and romantic pianism." —JazzTimes "It is not difficult to sort out Villafranca’s musicality, brute force, effervescence, topicality, virtuosic independence, patience, candor, and brazen delicacy… This recording is a welcome relief among both recent jazz and Latin jazz releases and it makes one wonders where Villafranca will go next. Wherever he goes, one must follow." —All About Jazz "Villafranca is at the level of his countrymen, Chucho Valdes and Gonzalo Rubalcaba..
Photos
Concert Schedule
Album Discography
Cinque + Narration 2 (Part 1)
From: CinqueBy Elio Villafranca