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| MSM Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra Celebrates WEST SIDE STORY 60th Anniversary Tribute On February 24, 2017, the Manhattan School of Music Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra, under the baton of Musical Director Bobby Sanabria, will pay tribute to the Broadway show that redefined the American musical, West Side Story, reimagined with an all new instrumental Latin jazz score. Based on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet but re-contextualized in the turbulent gang culture of 1950s New York City, West Side Story broke every rule in the book. According to Leonard Bernstein, the late great composer of this iconic musical, "They said there's nothing in it anybody can sing. It's too depressing, it's too advanced, it's too crazy, there are too many tritones, there are too many words in the lyrics; nobody can remember them. It's too rangy." But after some initial setbacks during the original production (the lead producer pulled out just before the start of rehearsals), the show that almost never came to the stage premiered on September 26, 1957 at New York's Winter Garden Theater to tumultuous applause and critical acclaim. Its amazing combination of progressive jazz-oriented music, lyricism, emotional impact, and amazing choreography, showcasing dance movement that had never been seen before on the Broadway stage, reinforced the emergence of a new kind of musical theatre performer: the triple threat, who could sing, dance, and act. Now multi-Grammy-nominated MSM faculty member Bobby Sanabria and the MSM Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra celebrate the 60th anniversary of this masterwork with an all-new Latin jazz treatment of Maestro Bernstein's original score. This exciting reimagining showcases the internal kinetic energy of the music with exciting arrangements featuring various rhythms from Latin America written by current and former students of Maestro Sanabria at MSM. "Maestro Bernstein's genius of utilizing the tritone (the opening whistle), the interval of modern jazz harmony, set the stage for something that had never been heard on the Broadway stage, " said Maestro Sanabria. "Several Latin music genres were also used in the show. But in this new updated version, the full palette of jazz and Latin American styles will be featured – from Venezuelan joropo, Puerto Rican bomba and plena, Dominican merengue, Brazilian samba and samba cansao, Cuban mambo, cha-cha-cha, bolero, son montuno, West African rooted bembé, and American funk and swing – providing the musicians an explosive platform as jazz soloists." The program will feature: PROLOGUE (arranged by Jeremy Fletcher) JET SONG (arranged by Niko Siebold) AMERICA (arranged by Jeff Lederer) GEE, OFFICER KRUPKE (arranged by Jeremy Fletcher) TONIGHT (arranged by Matt Wong) GYM SCENE / MAMBO (arranged by Danny Rivera) GYM SCENE / CHA CHA CHA (arranged by Nathan Sparks) MARIA (arranged by Eugene Marlow, with contributions by Bobby Sanabria) ONE HAND, ONE HEART (arranged by Jeremy Fletcher) COOL (arranged by Andrew Neesley) THE RUMBLE (arranged by Takao Heisho) SOMEWHERE (arranged by Jeremy Fletcher) FINALE (arranged by Jeremy Fletcher) Tickets for this historic tribute are not required. The concert is free to the public, and seating is available on a first-come-first-served basis. Manhattan School of Music is located at West 122nd Street and Broadway in New York City. ABOUT BOBBY SANABRIA Bandleader and seven-time Grammy nominee, drummer, percussionist, composer, arranger, educator, documentary film producer, multicultural warrior, and activist, Bobby Sanabria is a native Nuyorican born and raised in New York's South Bronx. His unique perspective comes from having performed and/or recorded with every major figure in the development of what today is known as Latin jazz. From the genre's acknowledged creator, maestro Mario Bauzá, for whom Bobby recorded three Grammy-nominated CDs and worked as the drummer in his Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra for ten years, to Mongo Santamaria, with whom he started his career, to Tito Puente, Chico O'Farrill, Ray Barretto, Larry Harlow, Candido, Dizzy Gillespie, Marco Rizo, and many more. Mr. Sanabria's versatility and scope of musical influence as both a drummer and percussionist has extended to other forms of music. He has worked with such genre-bending artists as composers David Amram, Henry Threadgill, and poet Sekou Sundiata, as well as being named as the newest member of Max Roach's legendary percussion ensemble, M'Boom. A noted educator and clinician, Bobby Sanabria is on the faculty of Manhattan School of Music and of the Jazz & Contemporary Music Program at the New School and directs both schools' Afro-Cuban jazz orchestras. In 2000 Maestro Sanabria's groundbreaking Grammy-nominated CD Live & In Clave!!! was hailed by the jazz press worldwide for its futuristic take on the big band Latin jazz tradition. Grammy nominations followed for his Big Band Urban Folktales (2008) and, with the MSM Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra, Kenya Revisited Live!!! (2009), a tribute and re-working of the Machito Afro-Cubans' legendary Kenya album, and Tito Puente: Masterworks Live!!! (2011). He has worked as a producer, advisor, and on-air personality on the award-winning documentaries, The Palladium Where Mambo Was King (Bravo, 2003), From Mambo to Hip Hop (PBS, 2007), Latin Music U.S.A. (PBS, 2009), and I Like It Like That: The Story of Latin Boogaloo (2015). He is the Co-Artistic Director/Curator of the Bronx Music Heritage Center and the Artistic Director/Artist in Residence of the Roberto Ocasio Memorial Latin Jazz Camp for High School Students in Cleveland, Ohio. In 2006 Bobby was honored by his hometown, Da' Bronx, by being inducted into the Bronx Walk of Fame and having a street named after him on the Grand Concourse. The readers of DRUM! magazine named him Percussionist of the Year in 2006, and the Jazz Journalists Association honored him as Percussionist of the Year in 2011 and 2013. In 2012, his CD Multiverse, on the Jazzheads label, again featuring his 19-piece big band, received two Grammy nominations. In 2013 Mr. Sanabria was honored by Associate Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor and the Dream Big Foundation for his community activism, leadership, and work in the South Bronx with children. His most recent recording, Que Viva Harlem! (2015), featuring the MSM Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra, has been critically acclaimed by the jazz cognoscenti, receiving 4 ˝ stars from Downbeat magazine. He recently composed the music for Some Girls, a film by noted indie documentary filmmakers Henry Chalfant and Raquel Cepeda. Along with noted folklorist/cultural anthropologist Elena Martinez, Mr. Sanabria is currently the Co-Artistic Director of the Bronx Music Heritage Center. He is a graduate of the Berklee College of Music, where he received his Bachelor of Music degree in 1979. He proudly endorses TAMA Drums, Latin Percussion Inc., Vic Firth Sticks, Sabian Cymbals, and Remo Drumheads. ABOUT MSM JAZZ ARTS Manhattan School of Music is one of the first conservatories in the United States to acknowledge the importance of jazz as an art form by establishing undergraduate and graduate degree programs in jazz. The program, developed under the leadership of eminent jazz artist and educator Justin DiCioccio, is one of the richest of its kind, combining systematic and rigorous conservatory training with a myriad of performance and networking opportunities in New York City. In addition to a variety of small combos, student ensembles include the Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra, Concert Jazz Band, Jazz Orchestra, Jazz Philharmonic, and Chamber Jazz Orchestra. Incoming Jazz Arts Director Stefon Harris (BM '95, MM '97) will continue the program's mission: to prepare students to perform, compose, and teach with equal facility and passion. ABOUT MANHATTAN SCHOOL OF MUSIC Founded as a community music school by Janet Daniels Schenck in 1918, today MSM is recognized for its more than 950 superbly talented undergraduate and graduate students who come from more than 50 countries and nearly all 50 states; a world-renowned artist-teacher faculty; and innovative curricula. The School is dedicated to the personal, artistic, and intellectual development of aspiring musicians, from its Precollege students through those pursuing postgraduate studies. Offering classical, jazz, and musical theatre training, MSM grants Bachelor of Music, Master of Music, and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees, as well as the Professional Studies Certificate and Artist Diploma. True to MSM’s origins as a music school for children, the Precollege program continues to offer superior music instruction to young musicians between the ages of 5 and 18. The School also serves some 2, 000 New York City schoolchildren through its Arts-in-Education Program, and another 2, 000 students through its critically acclaimed Distance Learning Program. write your comments about the article :: © 2017 Jazz News :: home page |