Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra & Wagner Highschool Jazz Band Collaborative Concert at ShapeShifter Plus

7pm – Wagner Highschool Jazz Band
8:15pm – Arturo O’Farrill & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra
The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra returns to the stage with the talented young musicians of Susan E. Wagner High School’s award-winning jazz program for a powerful concert celebrating their ongoing collaboration. After a year’s break, this renewed partnership highlights the vitality of youth jazz education and the shared joy of making music across generations.
About Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra
GRAMMY Award-winning pianist, composer, and educator Arturo O’Farrill—leader of the “first family of Afro-Cuban Jazz” (New York Times)—was born in Mexico and grew up in New York City. Son of the late, great composer Chico O’Farrill, Arturo played piano in Carla Bley’s Big Band from 1979 through 1983 and earned a reputation as a soloist in groups led by Dizzy Gillespie, Lester Bowie, Wynton Marsalis, and Harry Belafonte. In 2002, he established the GRAMMY Award-winning Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra (ALJO) to bring the vital musical traditions of Afro Latin jazz to a wider general audience, and to greatly expand the contemporary Latin jazz big band repertoire through commissions to artists across a wide stylistic and geographic range. In March 2021, O’Farrill and the ALJO won their 7th GRAMMY for Four Questions, with Cornel West as guest orator. In September 2018, O’Farrill released his album, Fandango at the Wall: A Soundtrack for the United States, Mexico, and Beyond, which was also released as a documentary for HBO MAX. In 2019, O’Farrill was appointed Professor at The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music in the Global Jazz Studies department and is currently the Associate Dean for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. O’Farrill’s debut recording with Blue Note Records …dreaming in lions… was nominated for a 2022 GRAMMY Award in the “Best Instrumental Composition” category, and his album, Virtual Birdland (ZOHO), was nominated for “Best Latin Jazz Album.” In 2023, O’Farrill won a GRAMMY Award for Fandango at the Wall in New York in the “Best Latin Jazz Album” category. O’Farrill is a Steinway Artist and records for Blue Note Records....

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7pm – Wagner Highschool Jazz Band
8:15pm – Arturo O’Farrill & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra
The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra returns to the stage with the talented young musicians of Susan E. Wagner High School’s award-winning jazz program for a powerful concert celebrating their ongoing collaboration. After a year’s break, this renewed partnership highlights the vitality of youth jazz education and the shared joy of making music across generations.
About Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra
GRAMMY Award-winning pianist, composer, and educator Arturo O’Farrill—leader of the “first family of Afro-Cuban Jazz” (New York Times)—was born in Mexico and grew up in New York City. Son of the late, great composer Chico O’Farrill, Arturo played piano in Carla Bley’s Big Band from 1979 through 1983 and earned a reputation as a soloist in groups led by Dizzy Gillespie, Lester Bowie, Wynton Marsalis, and Harry Belafonte. In 2002, he established the GRAMMY Award-winning Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra (ALJO) to bring the vital musical traditions of Afro Latin jazz to a wider general audience, and to greatly expand the contemporary Latin jazz big band repertoire through commissions to artists across a wide stylistic and geographic range. In March 2021, O’Farrill and the ALJO won their 7th GRAMMY for Four Questions, with Cornel West as guest orator. In September 2018, O’Farrill released his album, Fandango at the Wall: A Soundtrack for the United States, Mexico, and Beyond, which was also released as a documentary for HBO MAX. In 2019, O’Farrill was appointed Professor at The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music in the Global Jazz Studies department and is currently the Associate Dean for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. O’Farrill’s debut recording with Blue Note Records …dreaming in lions… was nominated for a 2022 GRAMMY Award in the “Best Instrumental Composition” category, and his album, Virtual Birdland (ZOHO), was nominated for “Best Latin Jazz Album.” In 2023, O’Farrill won a GRAMMY Award for Fandango at the Wall in New York in the “Best Latin Jazz Album” category. O’Farrill is a Steinway Artist and records for Blue Note Records.
About Susan Wagner High School Jazz Band
The Susan Wagner High School Jazz Band has been a premier performance ensemble in the NYC Department of Education for years. Under the direction of Mr. Paul Corn, they have made it as finalists in the Essentially Ellington in 2023, where they finished 2nd in the Nation, and again in 2024. The band has won numerous first place awards in the Heritage Festival Competitions in Williamsburg, Boston, and Washington D.C., as well as at Festival Disney in Orlando, FL. They have also participated in the New York State School Music Association Adjudication Festival and received the grade of Gold with Distinction on Level 6 repertoire. The ensemble performs numerous concerts throughout the city each year, both at school and throughout the community. Over the past decade, the band has enjoyed collaborating with Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra on yearly joint performances in Brooklyn and Staten Island. They also made their Carnegie Hall debut in 2020, Dizzy’s Club and Birdland Jazz Club debut in Spring of 2023, and will be performing a joint concert with Eddie Palmieri in June 2024.

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