Opening Masters Reimagined Series Concert
SOUND OF THE SORCERER: THE MUSIC OF HERMETO PASCOAL
Bobby Sanabria Big Band / Jovino Santos Neto / Mike Marshall / Paquito D'Rivera at Merkin Concert Hall, Saturday, September 9, 2006 at 8:30pm New York, NY, 8/07/06-In recognition of Brazilian Independence Day, musicians from widely divergent cultural and musical traditions will come together on the Merkin Hall stage to celebrate one of the most important composers living today, Hermeto Pascoal. Now in his 70th year, “the Sorcerer" is one of the most prolific composers, with an estimated 2,500 works in his book. Often using non-conventional Brazilian instruments such as teapots, children's toys and sometimes animals, Hermeto plays proficiently on basically any instrument, including keyboards, soprano saxophone, guitar and flute. He also sings and utilizes non-traditional implements as well. The evening is co-presented by the Brazilian-oriented label, Adventure Music.
This opening concert in the Masters Reimagined series presents US premieres for an unusually large ensemble performed by instrumentalists from the Bronx (Bobby Sanabria), the Bay Area (Mike Marshall), Cuba (Paquito D'Rivera) and Rio de Janeiro (Jovino Santos Neto). Combining their individual specialties-latin, bluegrass, classical, jazz, etc.-each will highlight the stunning range of styles embodied in Pascoal's compositions. The evening will begin with a pre-concert discussion, when the performers will talk about the influence Hermeto has had on their development as artists. The first half of the concert features music director and pianist Santos Neto in a small chamber setting with virtuosos Marshall on mandolin and clarinetist D'Rivera. The beautiful lyricism of Pascoal's chamber works is replaced by Bobby Sanabria's thunderous extended big band. Featuring five trumpets, five trombones and five saxes, Sanabria's big band will premiere some of Pascoal's more rambunctious and dense works for the first time in United States.
About the Artists
A member of Hermeto Pascoal's legendary band from 1977 to 1992, Jovino Santos Neto has “made it one of my priorities to make [Pascoal's] music available to musicians all over the world. I have always been a sort of librarian for his manuscripts, filing and organizing them." The Brazilian-born pianist, flutist and producer teaches at Seattle's Cornish College of the Arts. He has released several recordings as the leader of his own ensemble and in collaboration with musicians such as Airto Moreira, Flora Purim and Mike Marshall. He received the Chamber Music America New Works jazz composition award in 2003 and several other jazz and chamber music commissions. His CD Canto do Rio was nominated for Best Latin Jazz Album in the 2004 Latin Grammy Awards. Jovino was voted 2004 Northwest Jazz Instrumentalist of the Year by the readers of Earshot Jazz. Neto's latest recordings on the Adventure Music label; Roda Carioca (Rio Circle), recorded in Brazil in 2006, and Serenata, a beautiful collection of Pascoal ballads recorded with Mike Marshall in 2004.
An accomplished and versatile acoustic musician, Mike Marshall is a master of mandolin, guitar and violin. In 1979, at the age of 19, he joined the original David Grisman Quintet. In 1986 Mike founded the Modern Mandolin Quartet, which released four recordings, and in 1996 received a “Meet The Composer" grant from the Lila Wallace Foundation. Mike joined with Bela Fleck and Edgar Meyer to release Brasil (Duets) in 1996 and again in 1997 on Uncommon Ritual. The album charted on the Billboard Top Ten Classical Chart, where it remained for more than three months. The following year, the ensemble opened the Chamber Music Series 1998 season at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall. In 2003, Mike started his own label, Adventure Music, focused on releasing some of the brightest stars in acoustic and Brazilian music today. Its growing catalog-now over 30 titles-includes his project with Jovino Santos Neto, Serenata, featuring the music of Hermeto Pascoal.
Cuban-born Paquito D'Rivera began as a child prodigy, playing both the clarinet and the saxophone with the Cuban National Symphony Orchestra. In 2002, Paquito was commissioned by The National Symphony Orchestra and the Rotterdam Philharmonic to write a concerto, Gran Danzon (The Bel Air Concerto), for the acclaimed flutist Marina Piccinini. In May of 2003, he received a Doctorate Honoris Causa in Music from the Berklee College of Music. In addition to his awards and recognitions, including six Grammy Awards, Paquito made history for being the first artist to win a Latin Grammy in both Classical and Latin Jazz categories, for Stravinsky's Historia del Soldado and Brazilian Dreams with New York Voices in 2003. Paquito keeps busy by frequently touring around the world with his ensembles: the Chamber Jazz Ensemble, the Paquito D'Rivera Big Band and the Paquito D'Rivera Quintet.
Born and raised in the Fort Apache section of the South Bronx, Bobby Sanabria was inspired and encouraged by Tito Puente. Following graduation from the Berklee College of Music, this son of Puerto Rican parents became a leader in the Afro-Cuban and jazz fields as both drummer and percussionist. He is recognized as one of the most articulate scholars of the tradition with his most critically praised work being with Mario Bauz and his Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra, with whom he recorded three Grammy-nominated CDs. In June 2000 Bobby released Afro-Cuban Dream... Live & In Clave!!! Critically acclaimed worldwide, it was nominated for a Grammy as the Best Latin Jazz Album of 2001. He also received a second Grammy nomination in 2003 for 50 Years of Mambo-A Tribute to Damaso Perez Prado. Mr. Sanabria was recently voted Percussionist of the Year for 2005 by the readers of DRUM! Magazine. In addition to being Chair of the International Association of Jazz Education's Afro-Cuban Jazz Resource Team, Mr. Sanabria is an Associate Professor at the New School University's Jazz & Contemporary Music Program and a Professor at Manhattan School of Music.
About Merkin Concert Hall
Renowned for its acoustics, accessibility and innovative programming, Merkin Concert Hall is the recipient of multiple awards for Adventurous Programming, most recently from ASCAP/Chamber Music America in 2002-03. The Hall is a division of the Kaufman Center, which also includes the Lucy Moses School (a community arts school) and the Special Music School (a New York City public school for musically gifted children). A not-for-profit organization founded in 1952, the Kaufman Center occupies its own facility, the award-winning Goodman House, located in the heart of Manhattan's Upper West Side. Through its three divisions, the Center is an unsurpassed cultural resource where people of all ages experience the joy of artistic creation, expression and appreciation. The Kaufman Center's presentations are made possible in part with support from the Amphion Foundation, Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, Edward T. Cone Foundation, Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Barbara Bell Cumming Foundation, Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, Greenwall Foundation, Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, Inc., Phyllis Fox and George Sternlieb Foundation and with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency. Merkin Concert Hall receives support from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation.
For more information contact Kim Smith Public Relations.
