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| MSM Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra and Bobby Sanabria Pay Tribute to Harlem The multi-Latin Grammy nominated Manhattan School of Music Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra under the baton of their multi-Grammy nominated conductor Bobby Sanabria will be honoringThe Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce on Friday, October 26 at 7:30 p.m., in the School's Borden Auditorium. And, joining as guest artist will be 2007 NEA Jazz Master Candido Camero on congas. The concert will also be paying tribute to the legendary clubs, dance halls and figures that made Harlem famous. The program will include sound portraits to the Savoy, Cotton Club, Park Palace, Minton's Playhouse, Jazzmobile, Clef Club as well as Harlemites Duke Ellington, Frankie Manning and Norma Miller, Dr. Billy Taylor of Jazzmobile, Paul Robeson and James Reese Europe as well as the World premiere of MSM alumnus Dr. Jeremy Fletcher's tribute to Ralph Ellison's stunning 1952 book, Invisible Man. This concert, titled "Harlem Hothouses" is being presented as part of the School's year-long concert series "Harlem Nights, " a year-long concert series celebrating Harlem. "Harlem Nights" has been designed to capture the musical spirit and heart of our Harlem community by spotlighting the music, musi¬cians and performance venues that have called Harlem "home, " and have helped define Harlem as a center of the musical and cultural universe. Manhattan School of Music and the Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce have enjoyed more than a decade of collaborations on HARLEM WEEK and on the Harlem Jazz and Music Festival. In 2001, a 'Master of Music' concert at the school featured performers Joe Cuba and Gloria Lynne and attracted legendary visitors such as Ornette Coleman, Lionel Hampton, then-State Senator David Paterson, and Isaac Hayes among other notables. Manhattan School of Music students have performed at GHCC events such as "A Great Day in Harlem" at US Grant National Memorial Park, the "Harlem Miles" portion of the ING-New York City Marathon, and at free outdoor concerts at the Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. State Office Building. For its 90th anniversary year, Manhattan School of Music was honored by the Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce at the 2007 HARLEM WEEK Gracie Mansion kick-off. The MSM Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra has been internationally recognized for its performances at prestigious jazz conferences and by its recordings on the Jazzheads label. This past March saw the release of their critically acclaimed CD, Tito Puente Masterworks Live!!! Audiophile Audition said about this recording, "The Manhattan School of Music Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra is unrecognizable as a student ensemble … the soloists are of such a high level that none of them emerge as more memorable than the others." In 2009, they released the critically acclaimed Grammy -nominated CD, Kenya Revisited Live! This recording, that also features NEA Jazz Master CandidoCamero, is from a historic concert held at MSM (2008) that celebrated the 50th anniversary of Machito&The Afro-Cubans 1957 jazz masterwork, Kenya. The MSM Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra, now in its twelfth year under the direction of Bobby Sanabria, has performed in such NYC jazz venues as Birdland, the Jazz Standard, Jazz@Lincoln Center's Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola, as well as on the plaza of the Harlem State Office Building in an outdoor concert celebrating MSM's 90th anniversary. They have performed with a who's who of jazz giants from Tom Harrell to David Sanchez and Arturo O'Farrill to Sonny Fortune and Ray Barretto, among many others. The MSM Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra and Bobby Sanabria are dedicated to performing the music of 'la tradition' and pays homage to these legends while continuing to pass on and advance the tradition to the next generation. The Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce (GHCC), originally incorporated in 1886 as the Harlem Board of Trade, is now celebrating its 116th year continued service to the Upper Manhattan area in general and the New York region in particular.The Chamber has served as an ongoing anchor of continued stability bridging the periods ranging from rural development to urban neglect and now to its place as a national and international tourism magnet. The Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce has, over the past four decades, particularly focused on the business, arts and culture, education and housing renaissance and revitalization of upper Manhattan. Today, the Chamber's mission is to improve the quality of life for all who reside, work, worship or are educated in upper Manhattan, as well as to develop and attract quality business and professional services to complement the needs of its target areas.We are pleased that the Chamber dramatically continues to attract an ever-growing local, regional, national and international support base, ranging from professional service providers to fortune 200 Corporations.The Chamber's membership consists of those who wish to contribute to and thrive from Harlem's world-renowned vitality and recognition as a worldwide tourist, entertainment, sports, arts, cultural, educational, historic, religious and health services destination of international diversity. The Chamber's motto is "The Business of Business is People", and its theme is "You Haven't Done This Town 'Til You've Done It Uptown – So Do It Up In Harlem!" Bobby Sanabria, the Multiple Grammy nominated drummer, percussionist, composer, arranger, conductor, producer, educator, film-maker, bandleader, and multi-cultural warrior, has performed and recorded with such legends as Dizzy Gillespie, Tito Puente, Mongo Santamaráa, PaquitoD'Rivera, Ray Barretto, Candido, Henry Threadgill, Larry Harlow, and Afro-Cuban Jazz Godfather, Mario Bauzá. His first solo recording, N.Y.C. Aché' has been become a cult classic. His first big band recording, Live & in Clave!!!, was nominated for a mainstream Grammy in 2001. In 2003 he was nominated for a Latin Grammy for, "50Years of Mambo", A Tribute to Damaso Perez Prado. His 2005 QuartetoAché' disc was hailed by the critics as giving a new vision to the standard jazz quartet. The readers of DRUM! magazine named him Percussionist of the Year in 2006. His recording "Big Band Urban Folktales"a 2008 Grammy nominee. This South Bronx native of Puerto Rican parentage is a 2006 inductee into the Bronx Walk of Fame where he has a street named after him. His 2009 CD, "Kenya Revisited Live!!!" is are-imagining of the legendary "Kenya" album by the Machito Afro Cubans with incredible new arrangements with Bobby conducting the Manhattan School of Music Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra that has astounded critics and fans and was nominated for a Latin Grammy for Best Latin Jazz recording. He on the faculty of MSM and the New School. He leads several ensembles: QuartetoAché', Ascensión, and the Bobby Sanabria Big Band. He was associate producer of the TV documentaries "The Palladium: Where Mambo Was King" and "From Mambo to Hip Hop." Mr. Sanabria is featured in the documentary, LATIN MUSIC USA, which aired on PBS in October 2009. His latest release on the JazzHeads records is titled, Multiverse, and features the Bobby Sanabria Big Band. write your comments about the article :: © 2012 Jazz News :: home page |