Jazz & Social Justice Vol. 22: Arturo O’Farrill – Belonging – The Sound and Meaning of Community

With his music, his work as educator and administrator and his impassioned advocacy, multiple Grammy-winning pianist, composer and bandleader Arturo O’Farrill has long fostered a new understanding of our shared musical roots and the place of culture in our world today. The clearest expression of those values is Belongó (formerly the Afro Latin Jazz Alliance), of which is founding artistic director.

At the museum, O’Farrill will present an exclusive small-ensemble performance. Following the music, he and the series curator, journalist Larry Blumenfeld will join with some of New York City’s most dynamic cultural and community organizers including artist and activist Taina Traverso and CEO/Artistic Director of Harlem Stage Patricia Cruz, to discuss how creativity, excellence and purposeful engagement bind and uplift us all.

ARTURO O’FARRILL, pianist, composer, and educator, was born in Mexico and grew up in New York City. Arturo’s professional career began with the Carla Bley Band and continued as a solo performer with a wide spectrum of artists including Dizzy Gillespie, Lester Bowie, Wynton Marsalis, and Harry Belafonte.

In 2007, he founded the Afro Latin Jazz Alliance as a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the performance, education, and preservation of Afro Latin music. Learn more about ALJA here: http://www.afrolatinjazz.org

Arturo’s well-reviewed and highly praised “Afro-Latin Jazz Suite” from the album CUBA: The Conversation Continues (Motéma) took the 2016 Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition as well as the 2016 Latin Grammy for Best Latin Jazz Recording. In addition, his composition “Three Revolutions” from the album Familia-Tribute to Chico and Bebo also received the Best Instrumental Composition Grammy in 2018. Arturo’s album, “Fandango at the Wall in New York” won yet another Grammy award in 2023.

Arturo has been a Steinway Artist for many years and is a Blue Note Records Recording Artist.

ABOUT THE JAZZ AND SOCIAL JUSTICE SERIES:

This series, now in its sixth year, connects the music we love with the social and political issues that matter to us all. Each salon blends live performance with conversation between artists, activists, and experts. Curated and hosted by journalist and critic Larry Blumenfeld, whose NJMIH programs during the past dozen years have considered Afro-Cuban influence within New York’s jazz scene and contemporary New Orleans.