Arturo O'Farrill (born June 22, 1960) is a

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

musician, the son of

Latin jazz Latin jazz is a genre of jazz with Latin American rhythms. The two main categories are Afro-Cuban jazz, rhythmically based on Cuban popular dance music, with a rhythm section employing ostinato patterns or a clave (rhythm), clave, and Afro-Brazil ...

musician, arranger and bandleader Chico O'Farrill,Larry Rohter. "A Family's Legacy, Afro-Cuban Jazz."
''New York Times'', April 29, 2011. (accessed April 19, 2014). and pianist, composer, and director for the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra.
"The Orchestra". (accessed April 17, 2014). He is best known for his contributions to contemporary

(more specifically

Afro-Cuban jazz Afro-Cuban jazz is the earliest form of Latin jazz. It mixes Afro-Cuban clave-based rhythms with jazz harmonies and techniques of improvisation. Afro-Cuban music has deep roots in African ritual and rhythm. The genre emerged in the early 1940s ...

), having received

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

s and nominations,''Arturo O'Farrill's Website''.
"About Arturo". (accessed April 19, 2014). though he has trained in other forms such as

free jazz Free jazz, or free form in the early to mid-1970s, is a style of avant-garde jazz or an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventi ...

and experimented briefly with

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

.''Concord Music Group''.
"About Arturo O'Farril". (accessed April 22, 2014).

Early life

Arturo O'Farrill was born in

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

, Mexico, to Lupe Valero and Chico O'Farrill on June 22, 1960.Cristóbal Díaz Ayala and Barry Kernfeld. "O'Farrill, Chico". ''The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz'', 2nd ed., 2003. His mother Lupe was a singer from Mexico, and his father Chico was a jazz trumpeter and composer originally from

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Agustin Gurza
"Chico O'Farrill; Helped Lead Transformation of Latin Jazz".
''Los Angeles Times'', June 30, 2001, (accessed April 15, 2014). The family lived in Mexico until 1965, when they moved to New York City. Here, his father Chico found work as music director for the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

program "Festival of Lively Arts", where he formed relationships with jazz musicians

Count Basie William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and the ...

Dizzy Gillespie John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie ( ; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer. He was a trumpet virtuoso and improvisation, improviser, building on the virtuosic style of Roy El ...

Gerry Mulligan Gerald Joseph Mulligan (April 6, 1927 – January 20, 1996), also known as Jeru, was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, pianist, composer and arranger. Though primarily known as one of the leading jazz baritone saxophonists—playing t ...

, and

Stan Getz Stan Getz (born Stanley Gayetski; February 2, 1927 – June 6, 1991) was an American jazz saxophonist. Playing primarily the tenor saxophone, Getz was known as "The Sound" because of his warm, lyrical tone, with his prime influence being the wis ...

. However Chico also worked with many

Latin music Latin music (Portuguese language, Portuguese and ) is a term used by the music industry as a catch-all category for various styles of music from Ibero-America, which encompasses Music of Latin America, Latin America, Music of Spain, Spain, Mu ...

artists such as

Tito Puente Ernest Anthony Puente Jr. (April 20, 1923 – May 31, 2000), commonly known as Tito Puente, was an American musician, songwriter, bandleader, timbalero, and record producer. He composed dance-oriented mambo and Latin jazz music. He was also k ...

Machito Frank Grillo (born Francisco Raúl Gutiérrez Grillo; December 3, 1909 – April 15, 1984) known professionally as Machito (previously as Macho), was a Latin jazz musician who helped refine Afro-Cuban jazz and create both Cubop and salsa music ...

Celia Cruz Celia Caridad Cruz Alfonso (21 October 1925 – 16 July 2003), known as Celia Cruz, was a Cuban singer and one of the most popular Latin artists of the 20th century. Cruz rose to fame in Cuba during the 1950s as a singer of , earning the nickna ...

, and La Lupe, which, for son Arturo, led to a "psychotic upbringing" in which he was unsure of his own cultural identity.Feliciano Garcia and Martin Garcia Flores. "Cafecito: A conversation with musician Arturo O'Farrill".
''NBC Latino''. November 14, 2012. (accessed April 20, 2014). At the age of six O'Farrill began taking piano lessons at the behest of his parents, initially disliking them very strongly before warming up to the instrument and deciding around the age of 12 that he wanted to be a career musician. Eschewing his father's musical style, O'Farrill instead chose to focus on other forms of jazz, listening to artists such as

Bud Powell Earl Rudolph "Bud" Powell (September 27, 1924 – July 31, 1966) was an American jazz pianist and composer. A pioneer in the development of bebop and its associated contributions to jazz theory,Grove Powell's application of complex phrasing to ...

and

Chick Corea Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea (June 12, 1941 – February 9, 2021) was an American jazz pianist, composer, bandleader and occasional percussionist. His compositions "Spain (instrumental), Spain", "500 Miles High", "La Fiesta", "Armando's Rhumba" ...

.Alexander Stewart. ''Making the Scene: Contemporary New York City Big Band Jazz''. Berkeley: University of California Press (2007): 244. He also began to receive a formal musical education around this time, graduating from LaGuardia High School for Music and Art and then studying at the

Manhattan School of Music The Manhattan School of Music (MSM) is a private music conservatory A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training, and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music a ...

, the Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College (from which he received the Distinguished Alumnus Medal), and the

Aaron Copland School of Music The Aaron Copland School of Music is one of the oldest departments at Queens College at the City University of New York, founded when the College opened in 1937. The department's curriculum was originally established by Edwin Stringham, and a la ...

Queens College Queens College (QC) is a public college in the New York City borough of Queens. Part of the City University of New York system, Queens College occupies an campus primarily located in Flushing. Queens College was established in 1937 and offe ...

.Zoho Music.
"Arturo O'Farrill". ''Artists''. (accessed April 19, 2014).

Later life and career

Career as a sideman

In 1979, O'Farrill was playing in an upstate New York bar when he was noticed by jazz pianist, organist, and composer

Carla Bley Carla Bley (born Lovella May Borg; May 11, 1936 – October 17, 2023) was an American jazz composer, pianist, organist, and bandleader. An important figure in the free jazz movement of the 1960s, she gained acclaim for her jazz opera ''Escalator ...

. Impressed with his talent, Bley recruited the then 19-year-old O'Farrill to play with her band in

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhattan), 57t ...

even though she was uncertain whether or not he could read music. He remained with her band for three years afterwards. In addition to his regular role as a pianist, O'Farrill sometimes played organ with the band. After leaving the Carla Bley Big Band, O'Farrill found solo work with artists such as

, Howard Johnson,

Steve Turre Stephen Johnson Turre (born September 12, 1948, in Omaha, Nebraska) is an American jazz trombonist and a pioneer of using Conch (instrument), seashells as instruments, a composer, arranger, and educator at the collegiate-conservatory level. For ...

, and

Lester Bowie Lester Bowie (October 11, 1941 – November 8, 1999) was an American jazz trumpet player and composer. He was a member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians and co-founded the Art Ensemble of Chicago. Biography Born in th ...

.''The Kennedy Center''.
"Arturo O'Farrill". (accessed April 20, 2014). In 1987 O'Farrill found long-term employment as

Harry Belafonte Harry Belafonte ( ; born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr.; March 1, 1927 – April 25, 2023) was an American singer, actor, and civil rights activist who popularized calypso music with international audiences in the 1950s and 1960s. Belafonte ...

's music director.Scott Yanow. ''Afro-Cuban Jazz: Third Ear – The Essential Listening Companion''. Milwaukee, WI: Backbeat Books (2000): 77. In the early 1990s, O'Farrill slowly began to return to his Latin roots. While struggling to record a "Latin jingle", O'Farrill contacted bassist Andy Gonzalez, who, according to O'Farrill, "took me through the history of Latin piano." After this, Andy and brother Jerry began to feature O'Farrill in their band as a substitute for regular pianist Larry Willis.

Afro Latin jazz

Not long after his stint with Andy and Jerry Gonzalez's Fort Apache Band, Arturo O'Farrill joined his father Chico O'Farrill to aid in the latter's late-career musical revival. In his frail state Chico was unable to manage his own affairs, and so he began to delegate the hiring of his musicians to outside contractors.Alexander Stewart. ''Making the Scene: Contemporary New York City Big Band Jazz''. 243. Seeing this, Arturo O'Farrill stepped in on his father's behalf and assembled what became known as the Chico O'Farrill Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra. In 1995 he was named pianist and music director of the orchestra. In 1997 the Chico O'Farrill Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra began to play at Birdland each Sunday night,Alexander Stewart. ''Making the Scene: Contemporary New York City Big Band Jazz''. 227. and when his father died in 2001 Arturo became bandleader.Jack Bowers
O'Farrill and the Chico O'Farrill Afro Cuban Jazz Orchestra: Final Night at Birdland".
''All About Jazz''. August 15, 2013. (accessed April 21, 2014). In 2001, Wynton Marsalis – artistic director of the

Jazz at Lincoln Center Jazz at Lincoln Center is an organization based in New York City. Part of Lincoln Center, the organization was founded in 1987 and opened at Time Warner Center (now Deutsche Bank Center) in October 2004. The organization seeks to “represent th ...

program and musical director of the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra – sought the help of Arturo O'Farrill for an upcoming themed concert titled "The Spirit of Tito Puente".''Jazz/Not Jazz: The Music and Its Boundaries''. Eds. David Ake, Charles Hiroshi Garrett, and Daniel Ira Goldmark. Berkeley: University of California Press (2012): 93. Despite O'Farrill's best efforts, though, the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra was simply not equipped to play Latin jazz: Following this concert, Marsalis offered O'Farrill the opportunity to form and lead an Afro-Cuban jazz band that would perform regularly at

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 ...

, which O'Farrill accepted.''Jazz/Not Jazz: The Music and Its Boundaries''. 96. He named the new band the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra (ALJO), and opted for traditional jazz big band instrumentation with the addition of a three-piece Cuban percussion section. In 2005 Arturo O'Farrill released his first album with the ALJO, ''Una Noche Inolvidable'', for which he received a Grammy nomination in the category " Best Traditional Tropical Latin Album".''Afro Latin Jazz Alliance''.
"Recordings". (accessed April 21, 2014). In 2007, O'Farrill and the ALJO left Jazz at Lincoln Center "to pursue its own educational and performance opportunities,"' moving their performances to New York's

Symphony Space Symphony Space, founded by Isaiah Sheffer and Allan Miller, is a multi-disciplinary performing arts organization at 2537 Broadway on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Performances take place in the 760-seat Peter Jay Sharp Theat ...

.Larry Blumenfel
"Arturo O'Farrill's Tidy Cottage is Fast Becoming a Castle"
''Blouin Artinfo''. December 6, 2013. (accessed April 20, 2014). That same year, he was appointed assistant professor of jazz at the

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) is a public land-grant research university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Massachusetts system and was founded in 1863 as the ...

, and he established the non-profit organization the Afro Latin Jazz Alliance, which provides instruments and musical lessons for New York City public school students. In 2008 O'Farrill released his second album with the ALJO, the Grammy-winning ''

Song for Chico ''Song for Chico'' is an album by Arturo O'Farrill and the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, released through Zoho Music in 2008. In 2009, the album won O'Farrill and the group the Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often re ...

'', and also took up residency as an assistant professor at

State University of New York at Purchase The State University of New York at Purchase, commonly referred to as Purchase College or SUNY Purchase, is a public liberal arts college in Purchase, New York. Established in 1967 by Governor Nelson Rockefeller, SUNY Purchase is one of 13 compr ...

. In December 2010 Arturo O'Farrill travelled to Cuba with his mother, sons, and the Chico O'Farrill Afro Cuban Orchestra in order to bring his father's music back to the island.Larry Blumenfeld

"NYC Pianist Arturo O'Farrill Finds Himself in Cuba, and Brings His Father Home". ''Village Voice''. February 23, 2011. (accessed April 19, 2014. There, the band headlined the 26th Havana International Jazz Plaza Festival. In 2011, once he had returned from Cuba, O'Farrill directed the Chico O'Farrill Afro Cuban Jazz Orchestra's final show at Birdland, capping 15 straight years of regular performances. Later that year he released his third Grammy-nominated album with the ALJO titled ''40 Acres and a Burro''. In 2014, Arturo O'Farrill and the Chico O'Farrill Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra won the Latin Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Album for ''Final Night at Birdland''. In 2015, Arturo O'Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra won a

Grammy Award for Best Latin Jazz Album The Grammy Award for Best Latin Jazz Album is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality works (songs or albums) in the Latin jazz ...

for ''The Offense of the Drum''. On August 21, 2015, Arturo O'Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra released ''Cuba: The Conversation Continues'', which was recorded in Havana 48 hours after President Obama announced his plan to normalize relations between the U.S. and Cuba. The album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album in 2016.

Musical style

Unlike his father, whose music was undeniably Afro-Cuban in nature, Arturo O'Farrill incorporates sounds from throughout Latin America. Reflective of big band traditions in

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

, the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

, Mexico, and elsewhere,''Jazz/Not Jazz: The Music and Its Boundaries''. 97. his music is described as stylistically "pan-Latin" by critic Dan Bilawsky.Dan Bilawsky
Arturo O'Farrill & The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra: 40 Acres And A Burro".
''All About Jazz''. February 4, 2011. (accessed April 20, 2014). Philip Booth of ''

JazzTimes ''JazzTimes'' was an American print magazine devoted to jazz. Published 10 times a year, it was founded in Washington, D.C., in 1970 by Ira Sabin as the newsletter ''Radio Free Jazz'' to complement his record store. Coverage After a decade ...

'' writes that the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra's 2011 record ''40 Acres and a Burro'' "has the big-band digging deeper into the textures and rhythms of South America and the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

" than ever before.Philip Booth
"Arturo O'Farrill & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra: 40 Acres and a Burro".
''JazzTimes''. July 29, 2011. (accessed April 21, 2014).

Personal life

O'Farrill lives in New York City with his wife Alison Deane, a trained classical pianist, and sons Zachary (a drummer) and Adam O'Farrill (a trumpeter), who formed the O'Farrill Brothers Band.Dan Bilawsky
"The O'Farrill Brothers Band: Sensing Flight".
'All About Jazz''. January 12, 2013. (accessed April 21, 2014). On August 14, 2015, O'Farrill was among those who were invited to witness the moment the U.S. flag was raised over a reopened U.S. Embassy in Cuba for the first time in 54 years.

Awards and honors

, - , , , '' Una Noche Inolvidable'' , , Best Traditional Tropical Latin Album , , , - , , , ''

'' , , Best Latin Jazz Album , , , - , , , '' 40 Acres and a Burro'' , , Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album , , , - , , , '' Final Night at Birdland'' , , Best Instrumental Performance , , , - , , , '' The Offense of the Drum'' , , Best Latin Jazz Album , , , - , , , '' Three Revolutions'' , ,

Best Instrumental Composition The Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition (including its previous names) has been awarded since 1960. The award is presented to the composer of an original piece of music (not an adaptation), first released during the eligibility year. I ...

, , , - , rowspan="2",

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

, , '' Four Questions'' , , Best Latin Jazz Album , , , - , "Baby Jack" , ,

, , , - , rowspan="2",

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

, , ''Fandango At The Wall In New York'' , , Best Latin Jazz Album , ,

Discography

As leader

* 1999 ''Blood Lines'' (

Milestone A milestone is a numbered marker placed on a route such as a road, railway, railway line, canal or border, boundary. They can indicate the distance to towns, cities, and other places or landmarks like Mileage sign, mileage signs; or they c ...

) * 2000 ''A Night in Tunisia'' ( 32 Jazz) * 2004 ''Cumana'' (

Pony Canyon , also known by the shorthand form , is a Japanese company, established on October 1, 1966, which distributes music, films, home video, and video games. It is affiliated with the Japanese media group Fujisankei Communications Group. Pony Canyo ...

) * 2005 ''Live in Brooklyn'' ( Zoho Music) * 2005 ''Una Noche Inolvidable'' ( Palmetto) * 2005 ''The Jim Seeley/Arturo O'Farrill Quintet'' (Zoho Music) * 2008 ''

'' (Zoho Music) * 2009 ''Risa Negra'' (Zoho Music) * 2011 ''40 Acres and a Burro'' (Zoho Music) * 2012 ''The Noguchi Sessions'' (Zoho Music) * 2013 ''Final Night at Birdland'' (Zoho Music) * 2014 ''The Offense of the Drum'' ( Motéma) * 2015 ''Cuba: The Conversation Continues'' (Motéma) * 2017 ''Familia (Tribute to Bebo + Chico)'' with Chuco Valdez (Motéma) * 2018 ''Fandango at the Wall'' (Resilience) * 2023 ''Legacies'' (Blue Note)

As sideman

With

Ray Barretto Raymundo "Ray" Barretto Pagán (April 29, 1929 – February 17, 2006) was an American percussionist and bandleader of Puerto Rican descent. Throughout his career as a percussionist, he played a wide variety of Latin music styles, as well as Lati ...

, Michael Philip Mossman, and Patato Valdez * 2001 ''The Orisha Suite'' (Connector) With

* 1982 ''Live!'' (ECM) * 1983 ''Mortelle Randonnee'' (Mercury) * 1984 ''I Hate to Sing'' (ECM) With Chico O'Farrill * 1995 ''Pure Emotion'' (Milestone) * 1999 ''Heart of a Legend'' (Milestone) * 2000 ''Carambola'' (Milestone) With Bebo Valdés * 2011 ''Chico & Rita'' (Calle 54)

References

External links

*
Official siteAfro Latin Jazz Alliance's web siteAll About Jazz biography of Arturo O'Farrill
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ofarrill, Arturo 1960 births American musicians of Cuban descent Musicians from Mexico City Musicians from Brooklyn Latin jazz bandleaders Latin jazz pianists Latin jazz composers American jazz bandleaders American jazz pianists American male jazz pianists American jazz composers American male jazz composers Grammy Award winners Milestone Records artists Zoho Music artists Living people Latin Grammy Award winners Palmetto Records artists 20th-century American pianists Mexican people of Irish descent Jazz musicians from New York (state) 21st-century American pianists 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians Motéma Music artists Brooklyn College alumni Blue Note Records artists