Results for "Afro-Cuban"

Omar Sosa

Born: April 10, 1965

Composer-pianist-bandleader Omar Sosa was born in 1965 in Camagüey, Cuba's largest inland city. At age eight, Omar began studying percussion and marimba at the music conservatory in Camagüey; in Havana, as a teenager, he took up piano at the prestigious Escuela Nacional de Música, and completed his formal education at the Instituto Superior de Arte in Havana. Among his influences, Omar cites traditional Afro-Cuban music, European classical composers (including Chopin, Bartok, and Satie), Monk, Coltrane, Parker, Oscar Peterson, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett, Chucho Valdés, and the pioneering Cuban jazz group Irakere. Moving in 1993 to Ecuador, Omar immersed himself in the folkloric traditions of Esmeraldas, the northwest coast region whose African heritage includes the distinctive marimba tradition. He relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1995, and soon invigorated the Latin jazz scene with his adventurous writing and percussive style.

Azar Lawrence

Born: November 3, 1952

Azar Lawrence led a very musical childhood and began playing drums at the age of five and moved onto violin and piano under the direction of his mother Ima Lawrence. Ima, a gifted musician and teacher from whom Azar received his acute flair for all things music has shaped many successful musicians. Azar began playing with the USC JR Orchestra at the age of five. He played violin until the age of 8. He performed vocals accompanied by his mother during elementary school where she taught sixth grade and music At age eleven he began hearing a different musical voice. He was an accomplished pianist, violinist and vocalist in his own right at the time. He thought it was time to learn viola

Gilbert Castellanos

Gilbert Castellanos, renowned musician, composer, curator, educator and arranger based in San Diego, is one of the hottest jazz trumpeters in the United States today.  Adept in straight-ahead, as well as Latin and Afro Cuban jazz, Castellanos has become a leading figure of the vibrant, diverse and flourishing jazz scene in America’s Finest City. An established scene-maker on the West Coast, Castellanos is the Artistic Curator of both of the San Diego Symphony's highly successful jazz series - Jazz at The Jacobs and Bayside Summer Nights - which have featured some of today's brightest stars including ‪Gregory Porter‬, Chick Corea, ‪Chucho Valdes‬, ‪Dianne Reeves‬, ‪Cecile McLorin Salvant‬, John Faddis and more.  Castellanos’ talents are also renowned in the dance community

Ramiro Marziani

Born: December 27, 1995

Marziani is a touring and studio guitarist, composer/arranger, conductor and producer from Argentina. From an early age, every time he saw a guitar, he had a desire to play it. It wasn’t until he found a dusty guitar in his Grandma’s house that the journey began. "My dad began showing me progressive rock records from the 70s that he listened to as a child, and that introduced me to a new world of instruments and innovative music that I hadn’t heard before. The concept of Avant-Garde has been with me ever since."

For Marziani, inspiration comes from many different places. A walk to a remote part of town, sitting by the river or observing people’s faces in a crowded place.

Liam Leahy

Born: April 15

Flautista and Band Leader for Sweat~Heat AfroCuban Jazz, Accompanist and Soloist for Blues, Jazz and Latin Jazz bands. Arranger and composer

Afro-Cuban

By Kenny Dorham

Label: Blue Note Records
Released: 2003
Track listing: 1. Afrodisia 2. Lotus Flower 3. Minor's Holiday 4. Minor's Holiday [Alternate Take] 5. Basheer's Dream 6. K.D.'s Motion 7. Villa 8. Venita's Dance 9. K.D.'s Cab Ride

Kenny Dorham: Afro-Cuban

by Javier AQ Ortiz
April 2, 2003

Quick and to the Point: An ageless recording of true historical import in all matters Latin and Jazz. Several basic and rather obvious reasons to check out this recording: 1. It is one of the earliest well-informed, conceived and arranged mergers of jazz and Afro- Cuban musical idioms. 2. ...

Afro-Cuban

By Kenny Dorham

Label: Blue Note
Released: 1998

Afro-Cuban

By Chico O'Farrill

Label: DRG Records
Released: 0