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the Vermont Jazz Center Presents: Dafnis Prieto's si o si Quartet at
Courtesy of Ginger Morawski | Posted on October 2, 2014
When
Sat, October 18, 2014
8:00 pm
Save the date
Musicians
Dafnis Prieto
drumsJohannes Weidenmueller
bass, acousticPeter Apfelbaum
saxophoneManuel Valera
pianoAbout
Dafnis Prieto is a Cuban drum set virtuoso who can play over a tumbao with the best of them (as he did for many years with Eddie Palmieri), but his destiny is much broader than that. The Library of Congress states that Prieto is “unquestionably one of the important leaders of the New Latin Jazz movement.” He himself states: “I am definitely Latin, I play Latin tunes. Inside my playing there is a rhythmic Latin culture, rich in syncopation…[but], it’s not the same Latin jazz you have been hearing.” Perhaps the reason he earned a MacArthur “Genius” grant (an award given to artists who “show exceptional merit and promise for continued and enhanced creative work”) was because he’s so curious, adventurous and willing to deviate from expected conventions. Prieto is “attracted to anything new. I don’t want to stay in the music that I came from, and so I like to play with people who know the music I come from, but also know something else.” He will appear at the VJC with his longtime collaborators in Peter Afelbaum (saxophones), Manuel Valera (piano), Johannes Weidenmueller (bass). ...