|
contents | jazz | |||||||||||||
| Dayramir González brings Afro Cuban jazz to Flushing Town Hall OCT 23 On Saturday, October 23 at 7:00 PM (ET), Flushing Town Hall will present Dayramir González & Habana enTRANCé in a hybrid performance for both in-person and virtual audiences. The special program, titled "Havana Today, Afro Cuban Jazz, " pays tribute to legends Chucho Valdes, Chico O'Farrill, and Chick Corea and will feature Dayramir González on piano, Juan Chiavassa on drums, Dean Torrey on bass, and Christian Moraga on percussion. Dayramir González studied at Berklee College of Music as the institution's first Cuban national recipient of the prestigious Presidential Scholarship. He began his professional career as a pianist and composer with former Irakere member Oscar Valdes' Afro-Cuban jazz ensemble Diákara at the age of 16. Since winning Havana's JoJazz festival in 2004 and 2005, González has gone on to win three Cubadisco awards for his 2007 debut album, Dayramir & Habana enTRANCé, and the 2013 Wayne Shorter Award for most outstanding jazz composer. He has performed in 15, 000-seat stadiums with legends like Chucho and Bebo Valdes and headlined concerts at Carnegie Hall. Critically acclaimed, González has been making his mark as an international composer, orchestrator, bandleader, and pianist. His latest album, The Grand Concourse, was named one of the Top 40 albums of 2018 and received 4.5 stars from Downbeat. The album reflects the culmination of his journey from Havana, Cuba to New York City and is named for the thoroughfare that runs through the Bronx. It features a dynamic range of pieces that include the pulsating West African bass motif found in "Situaciones en 12/8" and the haunting, orchestral jazz ballad of "Blood Brothers." González is also a gifted educator and has provided master classes, guest lectures, and workshops at the University of Texas in Austin, SOAS University of London, McGill University in Montreal, as well as at festivals including the Detroit Jazz Festival and Havana International Jazz Festival. "We are very excited to welcome Dayramir's quartet to Flushing Town Hall. It feels long overdue following its postponement due to Covid lockdowns. We are so pleased to finally realize this special performance, " says Ellen Kodadek, Executive & Artistic Director. "We have a long history of presenting jazz in our Hall, as well as world music, and Dayramir's sound perfectly straddles the two. Queens is home to a diverse LatinX community, as is the New York City area at large, so it is our absolute pleasure to present an evening of Cuban jazz and to showcase Dayramir's extraordinary talent." This engagement of Dayramir González & Habana enTRANCé is made possible through the Jazz Touring Network program of Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation with support from the National Endowment for the Arts. This fall, Flushing Town Hall has increased its in-person audience capacity to 50% and is adhering to the city's vaccine mandate for performance venues, while continuing to livestream for virtual audiences at home. For the venue's full schedule of fall events, visit: https://www.flushingtownhall.org/events write your comments about the article :: © 2021 Jazz News :: home page |