Upcoming Events & News

• • Perhaps Arturo’s most ambitious and important project in recent memory is called Fandango at the Wall, where he meets with world-class musicians and local “son jarocheros” at the wall between the US and Mexico. Please read all about it here: http://fandangowall.com. There is an upcoming album release, a book, and a documentary film all being prepared to celebrate the occasion. Don’t miss learning about this!  http://fandangowall.com
  • Arturo’s recent trip to Europe with his Octet, the Afro Latin Jazz Ensemble, included a sold-out concert at the beautiful Elbphilharmonie concert hall. Here is an excerpt from one of the local newspaper reviews:

HAMBURG: “Pianist Arturo O’Farrill began the first piece percussively with his three drummers, before the trumpet, saxophone and trombone blow their mighty sound into the Great Hall of the Elbphilharmonie. The collective drum roll remains present as a foundation as the soloists introduce themselves one after the other. Saxophonist Chad Lefkowitz-Brown makes the scales dance, trumpeter Adam O’Farrill cuts the air in the hall like a machete cuts the cane, trombonist Rafi Makiel tests what pitches and noises are possible. O’Farrill follows with a filigree and fast-paced solo that’s more about… New York than the leisurely life in Havana!        The Cuban pianist, who lives in New York, introduced his band and made clear where the journey would take us in the next two hours. O’Farrill’s Afro Latin Jazz Ensemble combines Afro-Cuban traditions with contemporary jazz and all associated freedoms. O’Farrill’s father Chico was one of the musicians who created Afro-Cuban jazz in the 1950s. There is now a whole family dynasty. Arturo’s band includes his sons Adam {trumpet} and Zack, who play drums. The octet came to Hamburg, because the pianist and composer attended the summer festival on Kampnagel where they supplied the original music for the Cuban Malpaso Dance Company, which celebrated its European premiere.        The bandleader strikes the piano’s keyboard with both hands, the saxophone screams and the percussionists create a furious polyrhythmic network. The band has a lot of guts and literally pushes the seats in the sold-out hall. With a clenched fist, O’Farrill counts off the next number and drives his group of fighters up high.”

• • …  on September 23, Arturo is off to Abu Dhabi to plan for his appearances at the NYU Campus there next February 2019. Stay tuned for more news about that!