Arturo O'Farrill Quartet at Detroit Groove Society

The Detroit Groove Society is honored and excited to present one of the world’s greatest living Latin Jazz artists, Arturo O’Farrill, in a rare Detroit appearance with his quartet, in an intimate house concert setting. The other quartet members are Ricky Rodriguez on bass, Vince Cherico drums, and Roland Guerrero percussion/congas.
Pianist, composer, educator, and founder and Artistic Director of the nonprofit Afro Latin Jazz Alliance, was born in Mexico and grew up in New York City. In 2002, Mr. O’Farrill created the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra (ALJO) for Jazz at Lincoln Center due in part to a large and very demanding body of substantial music in the genre of Latin and Afro Cuban Jazz that deserves to be much more widely appreciated and experienced by the general jazz audience. His debut album with the Orchestra, Una Noche Inolvidable, earned a GRAMMY Award nomination in 2006 and the Orchestra’s second album, Song for Chico, earned a GRAMMY Award for Best Latin Jazz Album in 2009. In February 2011, Mr. O’Farrill and the ALJO released their third and newest album, 40 Acres and a Burro, which was nominated for a GRAMMY Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album. He is the winner of the Latin Jazz USA Outstanding Achievement Award for 2003. Mr. O’Farrill’s latest album is the solo piano outing The Noguchi Sessions....

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The Detroit Groove Society is honored and excited to present one of the world’s greatest living Latin Jazz artists, Arturo O’Farrill, in a rare Detroit appearance with his quartet, in an intimate house concert setting. The other quartet members are Ricky Rodriguez on bass, Vince Cherico drums, and Roland Guerrero percussion/congas.
Pianist, composer, educator, and founder and Artistic Director of the nonprofit Afro Latin Jazz Alliance, was born in Mexico and grew up in New York City. In 2002, Mr. O’Farrill created the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra (ALJO) for Jazz at Lincoln Center due in part to a large and very demanding body of substantial music in the genre of Latin and Afro Cuban Jazz that deserves to be much more widely appreciated and experienced by the general jazz audience. His debut album with the Orchestra, Una Noche Inolvidable, earned a GRAMMY Award nomination in 2006 and the Orchestra’s second album, Song for Chico, earned a GRAMMY Award for Best Latin Jazz Album in 2009. In February 2011, Mr. O’Farrill and the ALJO released their third and newest album, 40 Acres and a Burro, which was nominated for a GRAMMY Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album. He is the winner of the Latin Jazz USA Outstanding Achievement Award for 2003. Mr. O’Farrill’s latest album is the solo piano outing The Noguchi Sessions.
Educated at the Manhattan School of Music, Brooklyn College Conservatory (from which he received the Distinguished Alumnus Medal), and the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College, Mr. O’Farrill played piano with the Carla Bley Big Band from 1979 through 1983. He then went on to develop as a solo performer with a wide spectrum of artists including Dizzy Gillespie, Steve Turre, Freddy Cole, The Fort Apache Band, Lester Bowie, Wynton Marsalis, and Harry Belafonte. In 1995 Mr. O’Farrill agreed to direct the band that preserved much of his father’s music, the Chico O’Farrill Afro Cuban Jazz Orchestra, which recently concluded a 15-year residency at Birdland, New York City’s famed nightclub.
A recognized composer, Mr. O’Farrill has received commissions from Meet the Composer, The Big Apple Circus, Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Philadelphia Music Project, Symphony Space, The Bronx Museum of the Arts, and the New York State Council on the Arts. He has also composed music for films including Hollywoodland and Salud. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, classical pianist Alison Deane, and their sons, Zachary and Adam, who are both accomplished musicians. Mr. O’Farrill is a Steinway Artist.
If you wish to attend this concert, please reserve your seat by responding no later than August 31, 2012. Admission is $40 per adult, and $15 for students. Contact us at [email protected], or Andrew Rothman, 6650 Torybrooke Circle, West Bloomfield, MI 48323, ph. (248) 703-6301. We know you will not want to miss this performance by some of the most exciting players in jazz, in an intimate setting!

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