JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER’s (J@LC) newest resident ensemble, the AFRO-LATIN JAZZ ORCHESTRA (ALJO) led by pianist ARTURO O’FARRILL, will make its Lincoln Center debut at Alice Tully Hall on May 9 & 10, 2003 at 8pm. Over the last few months, the Latin big band has impressed audiences throughout New York City with performances at Battery Park, the Hostos Center for the Arts in the Bronx, Brooklyn College, and the Copacabana Nightclub. Comprised of 18 prominent soloists from the Latin jazz scene, the ALJO plays classics of the Afro-Latin jazz tradition and newly commission works, as well as leads educational events. For these special concerts at Alice Tully Hall, the ALJO will be joined by J@LC Artistic Director and virtuoso trumpeter Wynton Marsalis for two nights of red hot Latin jazz. Tickets to the concerts ($60, $55, $45) are available at the Alice Tully Hall box office, by calling CenterCharge at (212) 721-6500, or via
www.jazzatlincolncenter.org. This concert is sponsored by HSBC Bank USA. Music director O’Farrill, son of the pioneering composer and bandleader Chico O’Farrill, says of the ALJO: “I have tried to bring together the very best of the practitioners of the Afro-Latin genre that I could find, period. I also tried very hard to make sure that the members of this orchestra are excellent jazz musicians as well.” Indeed, with the founding of this new ensemble, J@LC hopes to continue the long tradition of artistic collaboration between jazz and Latin musicians. O’Farrill, who learned a great deal from his father and also played and recorded in the Latin-infused bands of Dizzy Gillespie and others, connects the goals of the ALJO with that of his predecessors, stating “The idea behind the ALJO is to perform the very best of the compositions in the canon of the Afro-Latin genre. A large part of our mandate is to provide an instrument for this new generation of composers, arrangers and instrumentalists to further progress this craft.”
Marsalis, who approached O’Farrill about creating the ALJO, expressed the viewpoint that the ALJO will help continue the innovations of stellar Latin jazz musicians and composers like Mario Bauza and Machito, stating: “The ALJO is going to fill a void on the New York cultural scene by playing the classics of the Afro-Latin jazz tradition, commissioning new works and playing dances. This band is firmly connected to the essence of Latin jazz. It has great soloists and first-class ensemble playing.”
The members of the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra are Arturo O’Farrill, Music Director and Piano; Michael Philip Mossman, Trumpet; John Walsh, Trumpet; Jim Seeley, Trumpet; Ray Vega, Trumpet; Luis Bonilla, Trombone; Papo Vazquez, Trombone; Reynaldo Jorge, Trombone; Douglas Purviance, Trombone and Bass Trombone; Erica von Kleist, Alto Saxophone; Bobby Porcelli, Alto Saxophone; Pablo Calogero, Baritone Saxophone; Mario Rivera, Tenor Saxophone; Bob Franceschini, Tenor Saxophone; Andy Gonzalez, Bass; Phoenix Rivera, Drums; Joe Gonzalez, Percussion; and Milton Cardona, Percussion.
Arturo O’Farrill (music director, piano) and was born in Mexico and grew up in New York City. Educated at the Manhattan School of Music and the Brooklyn College Conservatory, 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, Papo Vazquez, 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 New York City’s Birdland for the past few years as well as performing throughout the world. Besides recording three albums as a leader for Milestone Records, 32 Jazz, and M & I (Bloodlines, A Night in Tunisia, and Cumana Bop), Mr. O’Farrill has appeared on numerous records including Habanera with Alberto Shiroma, and the soundtrack to the critically-acclaimed movie Calle 54. Mr. O’Farrill was a special guest soloist at three landmark 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 Band Jazz, September 1998; and the 2001 Jazz at Lincoln Center Gala: The Spirit of Tito Puente, November 2001. In the Spring and Fall of 2002, he was also the featured artist in Jazz at Lincoln Center's Jazz in the Schools Tour, when he led a Latin jazz quintet for more than 50 educational performances that reached over 10,000 students in NYC metropolitan area schools.
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