Events

TD Toronto Jazz Fest 35: Hilario Durán Big Band & Jane Bunnett with Bobby Carcassés

Published

7 months ago

Jun 29, 2022

The TD Toronto Jazz Fest continues until July 3 with an incredible variety of free, outdoor programming including the 18 piece Hilario Durán Big Band on July 1st (Canada Day) and Jane Bunnett with Special Guest Bobby Carcassés on July 3, closing the festival.

Hilario Durán Big Band

July 1 | 9:00 pm | TD Main Stage – OLG Grove | FREE

In 2005, Inspired by the Cuban directors of the golden age of Cuban music, such as Bebo Valdés and Juanito Márquez, Durán formed his explosive Big Band Orchestra with Toronto’s top Canadian and Cuban musicians. The album, From The Heart, was nominated for a Grammy in 2007 and won a Contemporary Jazz Album of the Year Juno Award.

With this Orchestra, Hilario Durán realizes a lifelong dream. His eighteen–piece Latin Jazz Big Band swings and bounces around the leader’s rhythmically rich compositions and arrangements. The music performed by this Orchestra blends milieus and motifs of the classic Cuban musical form. The music has been influenced by most of the traditional forms of Cuban music and the most modern contemporary harmonies.

Hilario Durán and his Latin Jazz Big Band boast Duran’s rhythmically sophisticated compositions and sensual arrangements. Hilario Durán’s extraordinary talents, influences, and passions combine to create a majestic, tradition-inspired tribute to Cuban Jazz Band Orchestras.

Jane Bunnett with Special Guest Bobby Carcassés

July 3 | 8:30 pm | TD Stage – Festival Village | FREE

The TD Toronto Jazz Festival presents Jane Bunnett with an 8-piece group which includes both her first Cuban collaborator, the legendary Bobby Carcassés (who Jane started working with 35 years ago), and her most recent – 19 year old Daniela Olano on violin and vocals.

Jane Bunnett with Special Guest Bobby Carcassés

Over the last 35 years Jane Bunnett has introduced Canadian audiences to many of the finest artists to come out of Cuba – and she performed at the first Toronto Jazz Festival in 1987. It’s fitting to close this year’s TD Stage in Festival Village performances with Jane and her multi-generational group of Cuban Jazz Masters.

Jane Bunnett: Soprano Sax and Flute; Dánae Olano: Piano and Vocals; Paco Luviano: Bass; Amado Dedeu Sr.: Vocals and Percussion; Amado Dedeu Jr.: Vocals and Percussion; Daniela Olano: Vocals and Violin; Luis Orbegoso: Vocals and Percussion. Special Guest: Bobby Carcassés.

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Danilo Navas

Founder, Editor, Webmaster: Latin Jazz Network, World Music Report, That Canadian Magazine. A passionate and committed communicator with a sensibility for the arts based in Toronto, Canada.

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Events

Dizzy, Chano and Chico – The Original Influencers 75 Years Later at Town Hall

Published

2 months ago

Dec 5, 2022

Danilo Navas

[New York] – The Afro Latin Jazz Alliance & The Town Hall Present: Dizzy, Chano and Chico — The Original Influencers — 75 Years Later at Town Hall. A celebration of the monumental moments when jazz met the rhythms of Cuba and changed the face of modern music forever. In 1947, legends Dizzy Gillespie and Chano Pozo composed “Manteca” — one of the earliest foundational compositions of Afro-Cuban jazz and among Gillespie’s most famous recordings. In December ’47, Dizzy and Chano performed it live at the famed Town Hall in New York City. Consecutively, composer Chico O’Farrill’s masterpiece “Afro Cuban Jazz Suite” brought together bandleader Machito with O’Farrill and Charlie Parker, among others. O’Farrill’s work to meld modern jazz with Cuban big band continued with his collaboration with Dizzy on “The Manteca Suite.” ALJA and Town Hall celebrate Dizzy, Chano and Chico for their groundbreaking introduction of Latin music influences in jazz.

On January 14, 2023 at Town Hall, the continuum pushes forward 75 years later with the next generation of performers keeping Afro Cuban/Afro Latin jazz alive and well. Multi-GRAMMY Award-winning Arturo O’Farrill and his 18-piece Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra revisit the acclaimed compositions “Manteca,” “The Manteca Suite,” and “Afro Cuban Jazz Suite” as well as new compositions, arrangements and recent works with some of today’s most distinguished Latin jazz artists. Featured guests include “Superstar of Afro Cuban Percussion” Pedrito Martinez, NEA Jazz Master saxophonist Big Chief Donald Harrison, Cuban vocalist Daymé Arocena, trumpeter Jon Faddis, as well as emerging talents trumpeter Adam O’Farrill, percussionist Jacquelene Acevedo, and singer/composer Melvis Santa.

This event is part of the on-going centennial celebrations of both Chico O’Farrill and the Town Hall.