Home » Jazz News » Performance / Tour

229

Jazz and Global Music Mix: Conga Kings with Tiempo Libre and John Patitucci, Rufus Reid and Danilo Prez at the Kimmel Center, May 8 and 9

Source:

Sign in to view read count
The Kimmel Centers final weekend of jazz concerts for the 2008-09 season includes Miami-based, Cuban-born and internationally renowned artists bringing their own flair of global rhythms to jazz.

Click on the name of the artist below for more information on each Kimmel Center performance:

Conga Kings
Tiempo Libre
Friday, May 8, 2009 at 8pm
Verizon Hall
Price: $26-64

“It is hard to imagine contemporary Afro-Cuban percussion minus these three legendary congueros... The Conga Kings bears repeated listening just to comprehend the nuanced interplay of this unrivaled percussive triumvirate." -Rhythm Magazine

The elder statesmen of Latin jazz Conga Kings share a bill with rising stars Tiempo Libre on Friday, May 8, 2009 at 8pm. Conga Kings, a nine-piece rumba group with three master congueros, helped to lay the foundations of Afro-Cuban music in America that young, emerging groups such as Tiempo Libre continue to push in new musical directions with contemporary, hard-driving sounds. The two generations of Cuban cultural exports take the stage for a high-energy celebration of Latin rhythm.

Conga Kings formed in the late 1990s with Candido Camero, Giovanni Hidalgo and the late Carlos “Patato" Valdes, and has been a driving force in the world of Latin jazz ever since. Led by four-time Grammy® Award-winner Ray Santos, the ensemble has showcased its infectious blend of traditional Latin rhythms and melodies on a self-titled debut album in 2000 and Jazz Descargas in 2001. With the addition of Francisco Aguabella, these titans of conga have made immeasurable contributions to Afro-Cuban folk music, American jazz and Latin percussion as a whole.

Candido Camero has been a fixture of the Latin jazz scene in America for more than half a century, performing and recording hundreds of albums with artists such as Tony Bennett, Charlie Parker and Duke Ellington. Now in his late eighties, Camero helped to pioneer the simultaneous use of multiple conga drums, as well as the fusion of Latin rhythms into jazz and mainstream American music. Giovanni Hidalgo traveled the globe with Dizzy Gillespie's United Nations Orchestra, and has collaborated with artists from jazz greats Art Blakey and Tito Puente to folk icons Joan Osborne and Paul Simon. A master of the ceremonial Yoruba bata drums, fellow octogenarian Francisco Aguabella has collaborated with Dizzy Gillespie, Frank Sinatra and Carlos Santana, among many others; his cultural contributions have been honored with a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Named “Best Latin Band of 2008" by the Miami New Times>, two-time Grammy® Award-nominated Tiempo Libre became the first authentic, all-Cuban timba band in the United States upon its formation in 2001. The ensembles seven members were all classically trained at La ENA, Cubas premier conservatory, during a time when it was illegal to listen to American songs on the radio. Since then, the Havana-bred/Miami-based ensemble has reinterpreted and reinvigorated traditional Cuban music with a youthful, modern sound, forging a new style that blends Cuban roots with American influences.

Tiempo Libre's most recent project, Bach in Havana, a fusion of Afro-Cuban rhythms with the works of Bach, is scheduled for release on May 5, 2009. The ensemble previously returned to its classical background in 2008, collaborating with leading flutist Sir James Galway on the album OReilly Street, which features a Latin jazz arrangement of music from the Claude Bolling Jazz Suites. The band's other projects have focused primarily on music from the members native Cuba as heard on the Grammy®-nominated albums Arroz con Mango (2005) and Lo Que Estabas Esperando (2006). In July 2008, the ensemble premiered the interactive musical production Miami Libre, based on the bands collective immigrant experience, at Miami's Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts.

Conga Kings

Candido Camero, congas
Francisco Aguabella, congas
Giovanni Hidalgo, congas
Andy Gonzalez, congas
Enrique Fernandez, saxophone and flute
Joe Gonzalez, percussion
David Oquendo, guitar
Julio Salgado, singer
Ray Santos, Musical Director

Tiempo Libre

Jorge Gomez, piano and Musical Director
Joaquim “El Kid" Daz, lead vocal
Tebelio “Tony" Fonte, bass
Luis Beltran Castillo, saxophone and flute
Leandro Gonzlez, congas
Raul Rodriguez Hernandez, trumpet
Hilario Bell, drums

Friday, May 8, 2009 | 6:30pm
Commonwealth Plaza | Spring Fling
Johnny Cruz Latin Jazz Ensemble
In partnership with Races Culturales Latinoamericanas
Johnny Cruz Latin Jazz Ensemble has been turning up the heat in Philadelphia with sizzling performances of Latin jazz for more than 15 years, led by pianist Johnny Cruz. The ensemble will perform in Commonwealth Plaza prior to the ticketed performance by Conga Kings and Tiempo Libre in Verizon Hall.

May 8, 2009 | Post-Show (approx. 10:30pm)
Kimmel Center's Cadence Restaurant on Tier 2
Forte Young Professionals Mambo Party
Forte, the Kimmel Center's newly launched young professionals community, hosts a networking event for performing arts lovers, ages 21-40, in the Kimmel Centers Cadence Restaurant on Tier 2 immediately following the ticketed performance by Conga Kings and Tiempo Libre in Verizon Hall. Visit www.kimmelcenter.org/forte for more information and to purchase tickets.

Kind of Blue Turns 50
John Patitucci, Rufus Reid and Danilo Prez
Honoring Paul Chambers, bass
Saturday, May 9, 2009 at 7:30pm
Perelman Theater
Price: $32-38

“To hear his band unfurl so much sonic beauty without a hint of ostentation or bravura is to be reminded what substantive music making is all about." Chicago Tribune

The Kimmel Center's Jazz Up Close Series concludes with bassists John Patitucci and Rufus Reid with pianist Danilo Prez honoring bassist Paul Chambers on Saturday, May 9, 2009. Patitucci, a member of the legendary Wayne Shorter Quartet, and Reid recreate the recognizable sounds of Paul Chambers, who delivered perfect timing, spot-on intonation and virtuosic improvisational skill to the rhythm section heard on Kind of Blue, most notably on the albums first cut, “So What." Pianist and Jazz Up Close Artistic Advisor Danilo Prez joins the stage for an interpretive performance of works from the seminal album, among other jazz selections.

Since attracting worldwide acclaim as a member of Chick Corea's Elektric and Akoustic Bands, Grammy® Award-winning bassist John Patitucci has become one of today's most influential musicians and composers. He has released several remarkable albums as a leader of his own groups and made notable contributions to ensembles led by Wayne Shorter, Stan Getz, Freddie Hubbard and Danilo Prez. As a performer, Patitucci has played throughout the world with his own band, and with jazz luminaries Herbie Hancock, Wynton Marsalis, Joshua Redman, the late Michael Brecker, Randy Brecker and scores of others. His work has garnered two Grammy® Awards and more than fifteen Grammy® nominations.

American jazz bassist, composer and educator Rufus Reid has performed and recorded with jazz notables such as Buddy Montgomery, James Moody, Curtis Fuller, Dizzy Gillespie, Kenny Dorham, Dexter Gordon, Nancy Wilson and Eddie Harris, as well as his own group, The Rufus Reid Quintet. From 1990-2001, Rufus co-led the TanaReid quintet with drummer Akira Tana, releasing five albums together. Committed to jazz education, he has served as a top educator at major universities, and authored The Evolving Bassistwidely considered the definitive text on bass method. His achievements have been recognized with a 2008 Guggenheim Fellowship for Creative Art/Music Composition, and the 2005 Mellon Jazz Living Legacy Award from The MidAtlantic Arts Foundation, among other awards and honors.

Danilo Prez first entered the international spotlight as a member of Dizzy Gillespie's United Nations Orchestra, and quickly won over the world's attention. He has led his own group since the early 1990s, garnering three Grammy® nominations. Prez is a member of the Wayne Shorter Quartet and has toured with the late Steve Lacy, Jack DeJohnette, Charlie Haden, the late Michael Brecker, Tito Puente, Wynton Marsalis and Roy Haynes. He is currently founder and president of the Panama Jazz Festival. He also serves as faculty of the New England Conservatory and Berklee College of Music, an Ambassador of Goodwill for UNICEF and a Cultural Ambassador of Panama. Since 2003, he has served as artistic advisor for the Kimmel Center's Jazz Up Close Series in Perelman Theater, curating five nights of jazz each season.

“One of the most technically astute bassists around."LA Times on John Patitucci

“[Mr. Prez] conducted a polyrhythmic dialogue between his two hands; at other times he used his left to lay the groundwork while his right took off in flighthe struck the perfect balance between elasticity and groove." New York Times

John Patitucci, bass
Rufus Reid, bass and drums
Danilo Prez, piano

Saturday, May 9, 2009 | Intermission
Perelman Theater Stage | Artist Chat
This performance features an intermission Artist Chat led by Danilo Prez and Vice President of Programming Tom Warner, along with the musicians performing that evening, and explores the music heard in concert that evening as well as their own Kind of Blue thoughts, memories and riffs.

Saturday, May 9, 2009 | 6pm
Commonwealth Plaza | Free at the Kimmel
ArtJaz Gallery Exhibit
Experience the messages of jazz and more in this exhibit of paintings and mixed media. The exhibit will be featured in Commonwealth Plaza prior to the ticketed performance by John Patitucci, Rufus Reid and Danilo Prez, part of the Jazz Up Close series in Perelman Theater.

Tickets can be purchased by calling 215-893-1999, online at www.kimmelcenter.org, or at the Kimmel Center box office open daily from 10am to 6pm and later on performance evenings. (Additional fees may apply.) For group sales call 215-790-5883.

A limited number of $10 tickets are available for every Kimmel Center Presents performance at the Kimmel Center. Tickets go on sale the day of the event and can be purchased at the Kimmel Center box office beginning at 5:30pm for an evening curtain time and 11:30am for matinees. Limit one ticket per person.

Kimmel Center Presents 2008-09 Season is sponsored by Citi. Additional support is provided by PENN Medicine, PECO, American Express, and Interpark. American Airlines is the Official Airline of Kimmel Center Presents. NBC-10 is a media partner for Kimmel Center Presents.

Free in the Plaza programming and subsidized tickets offered to the community and social service groups for $10 are made possible through the Wachovia Gateway to the Arts Community Access Program, supported by a generous grant from the Wachovia Foundation.

The Kimmel Center is the recipient of partnership funding through the nationally recognized PNC “Grow Up Great" initiative, a ten-year, $100 million investment in preparing children for success in school and life. Funding gives support to the Kimmel Centers early childhood program “Bop and Swing," an arts program for children 1-5 years old, designed to promote an appreciation for American culture.

Visit Website

For more information contact .

Comments

Tags

View events near Philadelphia
Jazz Near Philadelphia
Events Guide | Venue Guide | Local Businesses | More...

News

Popular

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.