Dafnis Prieto Quartet November 2, 2008

Dafnis Prieto Quartet
some of the best of New York's new Latin-jazz movement....featuring Peter Apfelbaum, Manuel Valera & Armando Gola
Sunday, November 2 7:00pm
$20.00 General Admission, $15.00 Students/Seniors
Buy tickets at TicketWeb or by calling 415.383.9600

“Some of the best of New York's new Latin-jazz movement, distinguished by complex, jaggedly modern writing, but also by a deep cultural literacy of Cuban folklore” –The New York Times

“Emotionally charged and stylistically diverse, carried along not just by rhythm but also through lovely harmonized passages, horn fanfares, and powerfully conjured moods” –The Wall Street Journal

DAFNIS PRIETO QUARTET
Born in Santa Clara, Cuba, and a graduate of that country¹s best music schools, Dafnis Prieto now resides in New York where he has become a major presence on the Jazz and Latin Music scenes as a groundbreaking drummer, composer, and bandleader. A recent nominee for both a Grammy and a Latin Grammy, Prieto brings his explosive quartet to the West Coast this fall.
The band features two other talented young musicians from Cuba, pianist Manuel Valera and bassist Armando Gola, as well as saxophonist Peter Apfelbaum, Berkeley native, leader of the acclaimed Hieroglyphics Ensemble, and frequent collaborator of Prieto.

Dafnis Prieto's arrival in the U.S. has been compared by the New York Times to that of an asteroid hitting New York. Indeed, within a short period of time, Cuban-born Dafnis Prieto's revolutionary drumming techniques had a powerful impact on both the Latin and jazz music scene, locally and internationally. Having studied at the School of Fine Arts in Santa Clara as a youngster and later at the National School of Music in Havana, Prieto obtained a thorough classical education while broadening his knowledge of Afro-Cuban music, jazz and world music outside of the academy.
He first toured Europe with pianists Carlos Maza and Ramon Valle and the groundbreaking group “Columna B.” A resident of New York since only 1999, he has already played in bands led by Henry Threadgill, Steve Coleman, Eddie Palmieri, Chico and Arturo O'Farrill, Dave Samuels & The Caribbean Jazz Project, Jane Bunnett, D.D. Jackson, Edward Simon, Michel Camilo, Chucho Valdez, Claudia Acuña, Roy Hargrove, Don Byron, and Andrew Hill, among others. He has performed at many national and international music festivals as a sideman and as bandleader.
As a composer, he has created music for dance, film, chamber ensembles, and most notably for his own bands, ranging from duets to his “Small Big Band” and including the distinctively different groups featured on his three acclaimed recordings as a leader, “About The Monks,” “Absolute Quintet” (both on Zoho Music), and the sextet album “Taking The Soul for a Walk,” released in May 2008 on his own label, Dafnison Music.
He has received new works commissions, grants, and fellowships from Chamber Music America, Jazz at Lincoln Center, East Carolina University, and Meet the Composer. Various awards include “Up & Coming Musician of the Year” by the Jazz Journalists Association in 2006, a Grammy Award Nomination for ”Absolute Quintet” as Best Latin Jazz Album, and a Latin Grammy Nomination for “Best New Artist” in 2007. Also a gifted educator, Prieto has conducted numerous master classes, clinics, and workshops. Since 2005, he has been a member of the NYU Music Faculty.

Originally from Berkeley, California, multi-instrumentalist/composer Peter Apfelbaum has been an influential figure in new jazz for two decades. He is best known as the leader of the Hieroglyphics Ensemble, which received a Grammy nomination in 1991 for the album "Signs Of Life" (Antilles) and helped launch the careers of Joshua Redman, Benny Green, Craig Handy and Steven Bernstein. The current version of the ensemble, the New York Hieroglyphics, released their debut album, “It Is Written,” with Dafnis Prieto on drums, in 2005 (ACT/High Note).
In addition to serving as musical director for Don Cherry's Multikulti group, Apfelbaum has also worked with Cecil Taylor, Harry Belafonte, Phish, Muhal Richard Abrams, Charlie Hunter, and Don Buchla, to name just a few. He currently performs with Dafnis Prieto’s bands, the Millennial Territory Orchestra, Kamikaze Ground Crew, Beat The Donkey and the Josh Roseman Unit. His music has been performed by the Kronos Quartet, the National Swedish Radio Orchestra and the Trey Anastasio Band. Apfelbaum has lived in Brooklyn, New York since 1998.

Pianist Manuel Valera, born and raised in Havana, has made New York City his home for the last six years. An active sideman in the jazz and Latin jazz scene, Manuel made his debut recording as a leader in 2004 with “Forma Nueva,” featuring John Patitucci, Horacio "El Negro" Hernandez, Bill Stewart and Seamus Blake, followed in 2005 by “Historia” with Ben Street and Antonio Sanchez. “Melancolía” (2006) integrates world rhythms and classical concepts into a jazz context and features Antonio Sanchez, Ben Street, Seamus Blake, Luisito Quintero and a string quartet. His most recent recording “Numerico” features Ernesto Simpson and Hans Glawischnig.
Manuel has played with Paquito D' Rivera, John Benitez, Dafnis Prieto, Donny McCaslin, Claudio Roditi, Bobby Sanabria, Giovanni Hildago, Dave Valentin, William Cepeda, Eddie Gomez, and the Machito Orchestra. He has studied with Reggie Workman, George Garzone, Jane Ira Bloom and Gerard D'Angelo among others. Manuel graduated from Havana's prestigious Conservatory Manuel Saumell and from the New School University in New York. He received the 2006 Chamber Music America’s New Works Award and 2005 ASCAP Young Composer Award, among others.

Bassist Armando Gola was born in 1978 in Havana, Cuba. He has performed with Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Arturo Sandoval, Ignacio Berroa, David Sanchez, Hector Martignon, Donny McCaslin, Horacio (El Negro) Hernandez, among many others. He is featured on the Grammy awarded "Rumba Palace" (Telarc, 2007) and "El Tren De Los Momentos"( WEA Latina, 2008). and two Grammy nominated albums on Blue Note Records, Rubalcaba’s "Paseo" (2004), and Berroa’s "Codes" (2006). His first CD as a leader, “Live Things,” to be released in 2008, features Rubalcaba, Berroa, trumpeter Mike Rodriguez, Pianist Tony Perez and saxophonist Felipe Lamoglia.

Official Website: http://www.142throckmortontheatre.org