ARTURO O’FARRILL & AFRO LATIN JAZZ ORCHESTRA

In the autumn of 1947 the great Dizzy Gillespie teamed up with conga player Chano Pozo for a concert at Carnegie Hall, at which he debuted compositions exploring the connection between Afro-Cuban music and jazz. Shortly after this, the Cuban composer, arranger and bandleader Chico O’Farrill began working with some of the biggest names in jazz (Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz) and Latin music (Machito, Celia Cruz, Tito Puente and others). Chico’s son Arturo, born in Mexico, was exposed to both genres from an early age. His mother, the singer Lupe Valero, was another formative influence on his musical personality. The family moved to New York City in 1965, where Arturo started piano lessons at the age of six. He received a formal musical education at LaGuardia High School for Music & Art and Performing Arts, the Manhattan School of Music, the Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College. In the late 1970s his talent was noticed by the jazz pianist, organist and composer Carla Bley
Today Arturo O’Farrill is perhaps best known as the leader of the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, with which he has won seven Grammys, most recently for last year’s album Fandango at the Wall in New York.
Opportunities to hear big band jazz in a concert setting have been few and far between in recent decades. This concert will be the first visit to Slovenia by Arturo’s big band and their only European date this year.