Category Archives: NY Musicians

Arturo O'Farrill & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra

Arturo O’Farrill & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra (ALJO) West Coast Tour

ALJO…The Power of Activism and Jazz: Resisting an Oppressive National Political Culture

Arturo O'Farrill & Afro Latin Jazz OrchestraOn Wednesday May 9, Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra kicked off a special five-city tour of California celebrating the power of activism and jazz in resistance to the oppressive national political culture currently taking shape in America..

Arturo O’Farrill and ALJO invited diverse communities throughout California to partake in their revolutionary musical movement propelled by the orchestra’s fiery big band compositions. Beginning on May 9, Stanford Live presented the West Coast debut of O’Farrill’s The Cornel West Concerto at Stanford University featuring Dr. Cornel West alongside ALJO. On May 12, O’Farrill headlined Radio-Active Resistance: A Benefit for KPFA FM and DACA Support Services with opening acts Bobi Céspedes Band and the Son Jarocho All Stars at UC Theatre in Berkeley, CA. Additional ALJO performances included concerts at Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts (May 11), UC Santa Barbara Arts & Lectures @ Campbell Hall (May 17), and a rare Afro Latin Jazz Ensemble (octet) performance at Bach Dynamite & Dancing Society in Half Moon Bay (May 13).  ALJO concluded its California tour with a live recording on the San Diego – Tijuana border on location at the Fandango Fronterizo Festival, joining together with noted Son Jarocho artists from Veracruz, México, and other special guest artists drawing from various countries and musical genres.

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Cecil Taylor: A lifetime of the Relentless Pursuit of Beauty

Dawoud Kringle reviewing Cecil Taylor’s life and career

Cecil TaylorOn Thursday, April 5th, 2018, one of the most original and innovative pianists of our time, Cecil Taylor, died of natural causes at his home in Fort Greene, Brooklyn at the age of 89.

Taylor was classically trained, and valued European music for what he called its qualities of “construction” — form, timbre, tone color. He brilliantly incorporated them into his own jazz and blues based aesthetic. He once told jazz critic Nat Hentoff “I am not afraid of European influences. The point is to use them, as Ellington did, as part of my life as an American Negro.” Continue reading

Sylvain Leroux Fula flute student

Sylvain Leroux (MFM Member): News From L’École Fula Flute

Greetings Dear Supporters,

November is when is we at l’École Fula Flute  reach out for your help to continue our music education work in Guinea. In the next few weeks we will be sending many communications about what we do, where we come from, and where we want to go.

Thanks to your help, last year we could leave the streets and bring our activities to an ideal place with a large enclosed courtyard. Now it is humming with activity from morning to night, and six days-a-week classes in French, arithmetic, social sciences, theatre and music are happening there. Our dedicated students often perform plays and concerts for the community and official events (such as the Presidential inauguration). Also, beyond the benefits of the education that our students receive, we contribute jobs for artists, educators, administrators and support personnel, we purchase goods and services, and are anchoring a respectable institution, beneficial to the community.

During this month we will also be presenting our achievements at two fundraising events: Continue reading

Sylvain Leroux

News From Ecole Fula Flute / Centre Tyabala De Guinee

Text by Sylvaine Leroux

Dear Friends and Supporters,

Because of your generous and continued help since 2014,L’École Fula Flute has secured a home in Conakry that is now humming with daily activity.

Recently, our students were once more invited at the Palais du Peuple to perform for the President. Our reputation is growing and our work is valued in Guinea.

Sylvail Leroux

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Christopher Drapeau 2

CD Review: SONOROUS – Zen and the Art of Heavy Metal would come to fruition

SONOROUSArtist: SONOROUS
Title: An Untold Sadness
Label: An Untold Sadness
Genre: HR-HM

CD Review by Dawoud Kringle

“Focus not on the plan, but on the path, Express yourself through art and imagination, be good and let synchronicity take the reigns” – Christopher Drapeau

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