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Arturo O'Farrill w/Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra

Virtual Birdland

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Virtual Birdland #51
Virtual Birdland - LIVE
Interview with WEAA/Something Came From Baltimore
Fandango at the Wall (Trailer)
1 Gulab Jamon (Arturo O_Farrill)  
2 Pouvoir (Malika Zarra)  
3 Desert (Rafi Malkiel)  
4 Nightfall (Larry Willis)  
5 Ana Mashoof (Ghazi Faisal Al-Mulaifi)  
6 Samba For Carmen (Paquito D'rivera)  
7 Lafia (Letieres Leite)  
8 En La Oscuridad (Rafael Solano Sanchez)  
9 Cimarron (Papo Vazquez)  
10 Para Los Rumberos (Tito Puente)  
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Multi GRAMMY® Award-winning pianist/composer Arturo O'Farrill and nonprofit the Afro Latin Jazz Alliance (ALJA) announces today they have reached more than 1 million people in over 25 countries through their innovative "ALJA Digital Village" programming since its launch one year ago in March 2020. ALJA immediately responded to the onslaught of the COVID-19 global pandemic with a multi-faceted initiative to raise urgent funds for New York/New Jersey-based jazz musicians (over $100,000 was raised) while instituting a digital platform for ALJA's close network of standout musicians and educators. 

The flagship "ALJA Digital Village" program "Virtual Birdland" will celebrate the milestone with the global release of a new album, Virtual Birdland, featuring O'Farrill and his acclaimed 18-person Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra performing with an array of special guests on 10 ambitious compositions recorded across a span of more than 50 online concerts. Each Virtual Birdland session is recorded remotely from the safety of each artists' homes. Jon Pareles (Chief Popular Music Critic) of The New York Times included "Virtual Birdland" in his story, "10 Best Quarantine Concerts Online" (July 2021).

  • Arturo OFarrill - Legacies. Fiery piano on the rampage / Financial Times
    Posted At: April 28, 2023
    The pianist draws on tracks from Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell and Carla BleyFinancial Times - Mike Hobart writes…..Arturo O’Farrill’s second Blue Note release draws on his roots in the jazz piano tradition rather than his Grammy-winning legacy in Afro-Latin jazz. The sparkling introduction to a flamboyant cover of Herbie Hancock’s “Dolphin Dance” sets the album’s tone and Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell and Carl...

  • Arturo OFarrill's 'Fandango at the Wall' set for Brooklyn Bridge Parks Pier I / The New Yorker
    Posted At: July 7, 2022
    The jazz maestro and his eighteen-piece Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra reunite with musicians from Veracruz, Mexico, to play a concert of son jarocho, at Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier I.The New Yorker writes…Since 2008, the Fandango Fronterizo Festival has brought musicians from both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border together to play son jarocho, regional folk music from Veracruz, Mexico. In 2018, the jazz maestro A...

  • Arturo OFarrill & The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra - Virtual Birdland nominated for GRAMMY / wartajazz
    Posted At: January 4, 2022
    wartajazz - Agus Setiawan Basuni writes…….The 64th Grammy nominations for 2022 have been announced and the results will be known at the end of January 2022 which will be broadcast live on the CBS television network and can be watched via Live Streaming. Nominations in the Jazz Category include the categories of solo jazz improvisation, vocal jazz, instrumental jazz, big ensemble jazz and Latin Jazz with the...

  • Arturo O'Farrill - second generation noted / IMPROV exchange
    Posted At: August 14, 2021

    improv exchange - Leander writes.....Arturo O'Farrill, pianist, composer, and educator, was born in Mexico and grew up in New York City. He received his formal musical education at the Manhattan School of Music and the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College. Arturo's professional career began with the Carla Bley Band and continued as a solo performer with a wide spectrum of artists inclu...

  • Arturo O'Farrill's 'Virtual Birdland' is a candle in the darkness / Something came from Baltimore
    Posted At: August 9, 2021

    Released Apr 09, 2021 on the Zoho Record Label - Arturo O'Farrill Virtual Birdland is a candle in the darkness, which illuminates what is possible when good people come together to create beauty and meaning in the world. The year 2020 will forever be known as annus horribilis, one of misfortune and misgiving, when the people of the world suffered through an pernicious pandemic. One of my favorite people ...

  • How Arturo O'Farrill brought the world together with Virtual Birdland / JazzFM91
    Posted At: August 4, 2021

    JazzFM91's Laura Fernandez writes.....Over the past year, Arturo O'Farrill turned an incredibly challenging time for musicians into likely the most ambitious recording project of his career. The multiple Grammy-winning pianist, composer and arranger recently released his new album Virtual Birdland, which was recorded live across a span of more than 50 online concerts. On the new recording, O'...

  • Arturo O'Farrill chats with Straight No Chaser podcast about 'Virtual Birdland'
    Posted At: July 15, 2021

    Pianist/composer Arturo O'Farrill was as locked down as any of us during the pandemic that shut the door on live performances over the last 18 months. However, he and his compatriots at the nonprofit Afro Latin Jazz Alliance used new technology and a whole lot of hard work to create  "ALJA Digital Village," streaming programming that reached more than 1 million people in over 25 countries and ra...

  • Arturo O'Farrill chats with Harmonious World Podcast
    Posted At: July 2, 2021

    Harmonious World's Hilary Robertson writes....I had the immense pleasure of speaking to pianist, composer, band leader, educator and truly inspirational Arturo O'Farrill for the latest episode.  Virtual Birdland brings to your ears 10 compositions from over 50 online concerts recorded from the safety of the musicians' homes during the pandemic. This album is a sure-thing for a Grammy...

  • Of all Arturo O'Farrill's recent works, none stands out quite like 'Virtual Birdland' / LATINJAZZNET
    Posted At: June 23, 2021

    LATINJAZZNET's Raul Da Gama writes.......Arturo O'Farrill has – for a very long time – been exploring long-form composition and using it to express [by American standards, at least] his rather radical social-consciousness. While what he writes may not strictly-speaking be the "symphonic" form or tone-poems, the subject matter of his work suggests that he certainly conceives of his mus...

  • Arturo O'Farrill w/Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra - Virtual Birdland is special and represents that we cannot be defeated / Republic of Jazz
    Posted At: April 21, 2021

    Republic of Jazz - - Kabir Sehga writes.....The images of 2020 were scary, nights of ambulance sirens, freezer trucks, sleeplessness, a nation's economy brought to a halt. Jobs lost, businesses, restaurants, and yoga studios shuttered. With the exception of some high-tech companies and the well ensconced, everybody suffered. There were other images. Women and men in scrubs and face shields facing an ...

  • Arturo O'Farrill w/Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra - Virtual Birdland. A clarion call for deadened synapses that need reviving / Midwest Record
    Posted At: April 16, 2021

    Midwest Record's Chris Spector writes.....ARTURO O'FARRILL/Virtual Birdland:  I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing but the pandemic proved that the right players with the right chops don't have to be in the same time zone or even on the same time line to get together in cyberspace and kick it out all together.  Carla Bley was right when she first hired O'Farrill...

  • 'Chasing Magic' promises a jolt of joy reuniting; Ayodele Casel & Arturo O'Farrill. Makes The New York Times - 5 Things to Do This Weekend
    Posted At: April 8, 2021

    NYTimes critics and writers have selected noteworthy cultural events to experience virtually and in person in New York City. The New York Times - SIOBHAN BURKE writes.....A Jolt of Joy. With the change of seasons, the growing availability of vaccines and the cautious return of live performance, New Yorkers may be feeling more hopeful than they have in a while. But whatever stage of the pan...

  • Arturo O'Farrill and Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra present virtual premiere of 'Fandango at the Wall' / JAZZIZ
    Posted At: April 7, 2021

    JAZZIZ - MATT MICUCCI writes....The Week in Jazz is your roundup of new and noteworthy stories from the jazz world. It's a one-stop destination for the music news you need to know. Let's take it from the top. Arturo O'Farrill and Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra Rare Concert Performance Film Premiere: Arturo O'Farrill and his acclaimed 18-piece Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra will present the virtual premiere of ...

  • With 'Four Questions,' Arturo O'Farrill finds inspiration, not just of the musical kind / Hollywood Soapbox
    Posted At: January 17, 2021

    Hollywood Soapbox - John Soltes writes......Arturo O'Farrill, who heads The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, has always brought the real world into his musical compositions, and that's especially true of his latest release, Four Questions, featuring well-known academic Dr. Cornel West. The album was met with acclaim in 2020 and received a Grammy nomination for Best Latin Jazz Album. The title of the album ...

  • Arturo O'Farrill and Afro Latin Jazz Alliance raise $100,000 to help New York/New Jersey musicians during pandemic / Grateful Web
    Posted At: December 18, 2020

    GRAMMY® Award-winning pianist/composer Arturo O'Farrill and nonprofit the Afro Latin Jazz Alliance (ALJA) announce they have reached their crowd-funding goal of $100,000 raised through the ALJA Emergency Artist Fund (GoFundMe) and "Giving Tuesday" initiative to help New York/New Jersey-based jazz musicians during the COVID-19 global pandemic. New York City's community of independent musicians...

  • Arturo O'Farrill 'Four Questions' makes the JAZZ.FM91: Year in review
    Posted At: December 16, 2020

    JAZZ.FM91 writes.....The jazz clubs all closed, and so did everything else. But thankfully, the music never stopped. This was a challenging year for most people. Yet jazz artists from around the world went on to release an impressive amount of great music - for some, the best of their careers. That music brought us a sense of excitement and hope at a time when we needed it most. One day, these musici...

  • Arturo O'Farrill discusses 'Four Questions' with 91.7Mana'O Radio
    Posted At: October 23, 2020

    GRAMMY® Award-winning pianist/composer Arturo O'Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra released their latest recording, Four Questions (ZOHO Music), earlier this year. Featuring special guest Dr. Cornel West on the title composition "Four Questions," the recording marks O'Farrill's first album in his famed recording catalog to exclusively include all originally written compositions. We...

  • 4 Questions: 13 Answers - A conversation with Arturo O'Farrill & Dr. Cornel West
    Posted At: October 12, 2020

    The Afro Latin Jazz Alliance national release of GRAMMY-Winning Arturo O'Farrill and The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra's Latest Album - Four Questions on ZOHO Records, features Dr. Cornel West - On The Title Composition, 'Four Questions.' Arturo O'Farrill & Dr. Cornell West got together for and extensive and illuminating dialogue that included everything from the current pandemic,...

  • HBO premieres 'Fandango At the Wall' featuring; Arturo O'Farrill / Scenester
    Posted At: September 24, 2020

    HBO will premiere the feature music documentary FANDANGO AT THE WALL on FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25 (8:00-9:32 p.m. ET/PT). The film is a joint production between Tiger Turn Productions and Sony Music Latin and is directed by Varda Bar-Kar and executive produced by Quincy Jones, Andrew Young, and Carlos Santana. The film follows multi-Grammy award winning musician Arturo O'Farrill and multi-Grammy award winning...

  • Arturo O'Farrill discusses 'Four Questions' with 94.3WOWD - LP
    Posted At: September 10, 2020

    GRAMMY® Award-winning pianist/composer Arturo O'Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra release their latest recording, Four Questions (ZOHO Music), featuring special guest Dr. Cornel West marks O'Farrill's first album in his famed recording catalog to exclusively include all originally written compositions. Weaving together empowering messages for the times, Four Questions portrays the...

  • 90.7WGXC: The Jazz Disturbance features Arturo O'Farrill
    Posted At: August 2, 2020

    In this broadcast conversation hosted by Cheryl K of 90.7WGXC in NY's Upper Hudson Valley, the Grammy-award winning pianist and composer Arturo O'Farrill discusses his latest recording, Four Questions ( ZOHO Music) which features the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra and special guest Dr. Cornel West on the title composition. Four Questions marks O'Farrill's first album in his recording catalog to exclus...

  • Arturo O'Farrill's Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra turns its weekly Sunday-night Birdland slot into a virtual set, and makes The New York Times '10 Best Quarantine Concerts Online'
    Posted At: July 23, 2020

    With in-person shows still mostly on hold, musicians are finding new ways to insert life into livestreams. Some livestreamed concerts emulate the one-time-only experience of live shows - they're webcast just once in real time, then disappear from the web. Others recognize that anything that's digitized can be recorded and replayed. Here, alphabetically, are 10 of the best virtual concerts that have staye...

  • Questions posed by W.E.B. Du Bois are espoused in word and song by Arturo O'Farrill on new penetrating album / Jazz Weekly
    Posted At: July 23, 2020

    Questions posed by author W.E.B. Du Bois in his book The Souls of Black Folk are espoused in both word and song by Arturo O'Farrill in this penetrating and serious of his most recent albums. There is an inclusion of a choruses prepared by Jana Ballard, who deliver narrations in solo or choir settings ranging from modern classical to gospel to operatic. The Four Part A Still, Small Voice is a musical refl...

  • 'Cacophonus' from Arturo O'Farrill's 'Four Questions' featured on Punto Radio's 'animajazz'
    Posted At: June 22, 2020

    In episode 924 of "ANIMAJAZZ", conceived and conducted by BRUNO POLLACCI , broadcast on TUESDAY 23 June at 20.30, on PUNTORADIO, also streaming on www.puntoradio.fm and in an immediate podcast on http: // animajazz. eu will be ARTURO O'FARRILL & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra - CD "Four Questions'" - "Cacophonus" GRAMMY® Award-winning pianist/composer Arturo O'Farrill and the Afro ...

  • Arturo O'Farrill discusses '4 Questions' with JAZZ.FM91
    Posted At: June 15, 2020

    What does integrity do in the face of adversity and oppression? What does honesty do in the face of lies and deception? What does decency do in the face of insult? How does virtue meet brute force? These four questions were first posed in 1903 by the civil rights activist W. E. B. Du Bois in his book The Souls of Black Folk. In 2020, those words still ring loudly in the ears of contemporary thought l...

  • Arturo O'Farrill's 'Four Questions' brings together art, activism / DOWNBEAT
    Posted At: June 5, 2020

    Arturo O'Farrill is no stranger to complex artistic statements or critiquing systemic social problems. Given the vast-but nuanced-nature of the topics O'Farrill has explored throughout his career, the pianist, composer and bandleader frequently enlists a wealth of performers as collaborators. The approach continues with Four Questions (Zoho). While collaboration is a hallmark of jazz, O'Farrill and h...

  • The power of the music and ideas on 'Four Questions' makes it possible to compare Arturo O'Farill's work with that of Duke Ellington and Charlie Mingus / Jazz Quad
    Posted At: April 30, 2020

    "What does unity do in the face of adversity / oppression? What does honesty do in the face of lies / deceit? What is decency in the face of insults? How does virtue meet brute force? " This is a quote from a book written in 1903 by the eminent black rights activist William DuBois, "Souls of the Black People". In 2016, philosopher and publicist Cornel West, along with Arturo O'Farill and his Afro Lat...

  • Arturo O'Farrill & ALJO release; 'Four Questions' / Latin Jazz Network
    Posted At: March 28, 2020

    What does integrity do in the face of adversity / oppression? What does honesty do in the face of lies / deception? What does decency do in the face of insult? How does virtue meet brute force? These four questions posed by the great African American civil rights activist and author W. E. B. Du Bois in his 1903 book The Souls of Black Folk are expounded upon in a speech given by Dr. Cornel West based on ...
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