Canadian Juno Award Winning Saxophonist Jane Bunnett Debuts at the Kimmel Center Performing Cuban-Jazz Fusion December 1
November 20, 2007
Canadian Juno award winning soprano saxophonist Jane Bunnett debuts with her band at the Kimmel Center, performing Cuban- jazz fusion on Saturday, December 1, 2007 at 7:30pm in Perelman Theater, as part of the Mellon Jazz Up Close "Goes Global" series. Bunnett began exploring the crossroads between Cuban music and jazz in 1982, inspired by the passion and complexity of the Cuban musical culture during a visit with her husband, trumpeter Larry Cramer. Since then, she has incorporated Cuban musicians into her Toronto based bands, showcasing the finest musical talent from Canada, the United States and Cuba. Dedicated to interpreting the ancient musical traditions from around the world, Bunnett has collaborated with the internationally renowned Cuban piano masters Hilario Duran and Frank Emilio, among others. She has been the recipient of two Grammy® nominations, and received the 2006 Juno Award for Contemporary Jazz Album of the Year for Radio Guantanamo Vol. 1.
Canada featuring Jane Bunnett is the second concert in the Mellon Jazz Up Close "Goes Global" series scheduled for the 2007/2008 season. The next concert in the series will be Africa, Richard Bona Band with guitarist Lionel Loueke on Saturday, March 1, 2008 at 7:30pm.
Tickets for Canada are $37 and $43, and can be purchased by calling 215-893-1999, online at www.kimmelcenter.org, or at the Kimmel Center box office open daily from 10am to 6pm and later on performance evenings. (Additional fees may apply.) For group sales call 215-790-5883.
A limited number of $10 tickets are available for every Kimmel Center Presents performance at the Kimmel Center. Tickets go on sale the day of the event and can be purchased at the Kimmel Center box office beginning 2.5 hours prior to curtain time and 11:30am for matinees. Limit one ticket per person.
The soprano saxophonist, flutist and bandleader Jane Bunnett has become one of the foremost jazz musicians in Canada, and has gained recognition around the world for her improvising talents, technical proficiency, and writing and band leading abilities. In 1991, she released her first Cuban-influenced album, Spirits of Havana, which was picked up by the All-Music Guide as one of the top 300 jazz discs of all time and also captured a Juno award. Since then, Bunnett has moved from strength to strength, touring internationally and recording a string of critically lauded albums, Red Dragonfly, an ambitious expression of very personal Cuban-jazz fusion. In addition to her contributions as a performer, in 2005 Bunnett and her husband, trumpeter Larry Cramer, founded Art of Jazz, a not-for-profit organization dedicated year-round to the development of jazz artists and audiences in Canada and abroad.
Osmany Paredes is an internationally acclaimed pianist, composer and arranger whose style blends jazz with his Afro-Cuban rhythmic heritage, using techniques derived from years of classical education. Before moving to the United States, Paredes lived in Mexico for a number of years while accumulating an impressive portfolio of performances and recordings. He has worked with such legends of Latin American music as Israel "Cachao" Lopez, Jerry Gonzalez, "Patato" Valdez, "El Cigala," "Chocolate" Armenteros, La Orquesta America, and Enrique Jorrin. Paredes has also appeared at a number of renowned festivals and venues, including the Havana Jazz Plaza Festival, San Francisco Jazz Festival, Caracas Jazz Festival, Acapulco Jazz Festival, Jazz Bakery in Los Angeles, Berklee Performance Center in Boston, and Zinc Bar in New York City.
Yunior Terry, bassist, violinist, and composer, is part of one of Cuba's most gifted musical families. He grew up surrounded by the music of Afro-Cuban religious traditions and learned to play the chekeré from his father Don Pancho, the undisputed master of the instrument. Terry graduated from the prestigious National School of Art (ENA) with a double major in bass and violin. While in Cuba, he played violin with the Cuban National Symphony and bass with folkloric and Latin jazz groups. Terry moved to the United States to continue his musical studies at CalArts in Los Angeles, graduating in 2002 with honors. Since then, he has worked with some of the biggest names in Latin American music, including Jerry Gonzales and Fort Apache, Steve Coleman and Five Elements, Quetzal, Arturo O'Farril, Pete Escovedo and Sheila E., Dafnis Prieto Quintet, Jane Bunnett, and the Latin Jazz All Stars.
Percussionist Richie Barshay, most noted as a member of the Herbie Hancock Quartet since 2003, has established himself as a prominent musical voice of his generation. Regarded as "a player to watch" by JazzTimes magazine, he maintains a busy international touring schedule with some of today's top artists including Hancock, The Klezmatics, Kenny Werner, and many others. In September of 2004 he was named an American Musical Envoy by the U.S. State Department, along with the renowned Latin-Jazz ensemble Insight. Currently based in New York City after five years on the Boston music scene, Barshay has expanded his focus from the jazz and Afro-Latin music of his youth to Indian rhythmic concepts and tabla, inspiring his 2005 recording debut Homework and the launching of his new band, The Richie Barshay Project.
Born and raised in Cuba, Pedrito Martinez has worked with numerous Afro-Cuban groups, such as Yoruba Andabo, Obba Ilu, Tata Guines, Changuito, Anga and many others. Martinez has toured in Costa Rica, France, Spain, and the Canary Islands, and came to the United States in July 1998 after performing with Jane Bunnett at the Canadian Jazz Festival in Toronto. In September 2000, Martinez was awarded first place in the Thelonious Monk Institute’s Afro/Latin Jazz Hand Drum competition at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. This honor led to an outpouring of high-profile projects, including work with Nelson Gonzalez, Horacio "El Negro" Hernandez, Robby Ameen, Paquito D'Rivera, Giovanni Hidalgo, Patato, and Candido Camero, among many others. In addition to his efforts on stage, Martinez performed in the motion picture "Calle 54," as well as other television works.
Kimmel Center Presents 2007/2008 season is sponsored by Citi. Support for the Mellon Jazz Series comes from The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation. The Great Orchestra Series is supported by ARC Wheeler. Additional support is provided by the University of Pennsylvania Health System and American Express. American Airlines is the Official Airline of Kimmel Center Presents. Toyota is the Official Vehicle of Kimmel Center Presents Jazz and World Pop programming.
The Kimmel Center also receives support from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, The William Penn Foundation, The Wachovia Foundation, Verizon Foundation, PNC Foundation, the Philadelphia Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, and the Philadelphia Music Project and Dance Advance, Initiatives of The Pew Charitable Trust administered by The University of the Arts. In-kind support is generously provided by Deloitte. NBC-10 is a Media Partner for Kimmel Center Presents, and additional media sponsors include WDAS, WRTI, WJJZ, Afro-Pop, WXPN and WXPN's Kids Corner 20th Anniversary.
Free In The Plaza programming and subsidized tickets offered to the community and social service groups for $10 are made possible through the Wachovia Gateway to the Arts Community Access Program, supported by a generous grant from Wachovia Foundation.
KIMMEL CENTER PRESENTS SPONSORED BY CITI
Saturday, December 1, 2007 | 7:30pm
Perelman Theater
Mellon Jazz Up Close Series
Canada
Jane Bunnett, soprano saxophone and flute
Larry Cramer, trumpet and flugelhorn
Osmany Paredes, piano
Yunior Terry, bass
Richie Barshay, drums
Pedro Martinez, percussion and vocals
FREE AT THE KIMMEL EVENTS:
Saturday, December 1, 2007 | 1:30pm
Commonwealth Plaza
Tuba Christmas!
The holidays come to life at the Kimmel Center as over 50 regional tuba and euphonium players join together to perform holiday classics free to the public and for all ages.
Friday, December 7, 2007 | 7:30pm
Commonwealth Plaza
Haddonfield Memorial High School Madrigal Singers
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