CARNEGIE HALL PRESENTS
Michel Camilo Solo/Trio

Zankel Hall
Thursday, November 13th, 2008 at 8:30 PM

Michel Camilo, Piano
Charles Flores, Bass
Dafnis Prieto, Drums

This concert and Just Jazz: The Joyce Wein Series are sponsored by the Joyce and George Wein Foundation in memory of Joyce Wein.

Program Notes:

Bob Golden on
MICHEL CAMILO

The inspired coincidence that the Dominican-born jazz piano titan Michel Camilo would be a featured performer in a concert series honoring Joyce Wein, the late wife and business partner of the jazz impresario George Wein, is most appropriate. A singularly joyous, supportive, and elegant presence at jazz events everywhere, Joyce was beloved by the entire jazz community. And it was only natural that when she and Michel Camilo inevitably met and learned of their many common connections, that they would become life-long friends.
 
The musician Camilo is most often compared to is his idol and primary influence, the immortal jazz pianist Art Tatum (1910–1956), who was a frequent headliner at the now-fabled Storyville Jazz nightclub in Boston owned by one George Wein, at the time a young jazz promoter. Handicapped by his blindness, dark skin, and deep social apprehensions, Tatum was quickly befriended and comforted by Joyce. Two decades later, she would similarly mentor and bolster a young, shy jazz pianist by the name of Michel Camilo who had moved to New York City from his Caribbean homeland. (It was incidentally Tatum who encouraged Joyce’s husband, George, to become a professional and soon-to-be well-respected jazz pianist himself.)
 
Michel fondly remembers an especially joyous occasion in 1987 when he was starting his tenure as the musical director of the Dominican Republic Heineken Jazz Festival and booked pianist George Wein—then and now the world’s most esteemed jazz festival producer—and his Newport All-Stars group. The standing ovation for the performance was what George has said was among the pinnacle events of his career as a musician. He and Joyce then stayed on to celebrate this triumph and that of their “adopted son” who had now become the newest jazz presenter on the world stage.

Subsequent years and shared successes saw Michel and his wife Sandra warmly welcomed as members of the extended Wein family, sharing music events, travels, and their particular passion for sublime dining experiences. This friendship also played a significant role in the burgeoning Camilo career when Joyce and George personally campaigned for Sony Music to sign Michel to his first major label contract. His debut album, Michel Camilo, firmly established the piano wizard as a jazz superstar, and would be the first in a still uninterrupted series of best-selling, Grammy-winning, and critically acclaimed recordings.
 
Moreover, that eponymous major label premiere introduced the world to “Caribe,” a Michel Camilo composition that has become his musical signature, a Latin-jazz standard, and appropriately the title of this Zankel Hall musical memorial to an extraordinary lady, true friend, and continued inspiration.


—Bob Golden is a 50-year music industry veteran who is currently Vice President of Marketing at Carlin America, a major multinational music publishing corporation.


Copyright © 2008 by The Carnegie Hall Corporation

Michel Camilo, Piano
A pianist with a brilliant technique and a composer who flavors his tunes with Afro-Caribbean rhythms and jazz harmonies, Michel Camilo’s musical language is an expressive and exciting combination. His music is mainstream jazz first and foremost, propelled by an infectious, contemporary sense of swing that reflects his joyously effervescent personality. He also moves with ease between the worlds of Latin, Flamenco, and classical music.

Michel Camilo was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, where he studied for 13 years at the National Conservatory and became a member of the National Symphony Orchestra at the age of 16. He moved to New York in 1979 to continue his studies at Mannes College The New School For Music and The Juilliard School. Since his 1985 Carnegie Hall debut, he has become a prominent musical figure, performing regularly at festivals throughout the US, Europe, Israel, Asia, South America, and the Caribbean.

To date, his 18 recordings have been recognized with a Grammy, an Emmy, two Latin Grammys, and two Premios de la Música (Spain). Other highlights of Mr. Camilo’s career include a five-year tenure as musical director of the Heineken Jazz Festival (Dominican Republic), president of the jury at the Montreux Jazz Solo Piano competition, co-artistic director of the first Latin-Caribbean Music Festival at the Kennedy Center where he performed the world premier of his Piano Concerto with the National Symphony Orchestra, and artist in residence at the 2007 Kavier Piano Festival Ruhr. He has also been featured in the award-winning Latin jazz documentary Calle 54, and was voted among the Top 10 Jazz Pianists of the Year by the 69th annual DownBeat Reader’s Poll.

Guest engagements with prestigious orchestras include the National, Atlanta, Madrid, Navarra, Puerto Rico, and RTVE symphony orchestras; Cleveland and Gulbenkian orchestras; Los Angeles Philharmonic; New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra; National Orchestra of Spain; National Symphony Orchestra of the Dominican Republic; Orquestra de Cadaqués; Barcelona Symphony; and Copenhagen and Indiana University philharmonic orchestras, among others. He has recorded with the BBC Symphony Orchestra (Decca/Universal) and with the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra (Telarc).

Mr. Camilo’s honors include honorary doctorates from Berklee College of Music (Boston), Universidad Nacional Pedro Henriquez Ureña, UTESA University of Santiago, as well as an honorary professorship from Universidad Autonoma de Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic). The Dominican Government has also awarded Mr. Camilo its highest civilian honors: the Silver Cross of the Order of Duarte, Sanchez and Mella; and Knight of the Heraldic Order of Christopher Columbus.

Charles Flores, Bass
Charles Flores was born in Cuba and began his career in 1989 with Cuban jazz vocalist–composer Bobby Carcasses. Soon after he began touring Europe and Latin America with pianist Emiliano Salvador, one of the most important figures in the history of Afro-Cuban jazz.

Mr. Flores worked with the Latin/Fusion group Afro-Cuba and was featured on the album Acontecer. With the Isaac Delgado Group, he toured internationally and recorded three CDs: Con Ganas, El Chevere de la Salsa y el Caballero de el Son, and El Año que Viene. He also appeared on Juan Carlos Formell’s Grammy-nominated CD Songs From a Little Blue House.

In 2000 Mr. Flores released his debut CD, Reminiscence, featuring Horacio “El Negro” Hernandez. In addition to performing with his own group, Mr. Flores has also toured with Jane Bunnett, J.P. Torres, Brian Lynch, David Sanchez, Giovanni Hidalgo, Steve Khan, Dafnis Prieto, Dave Valentin, and the BBC Big Band, among others.

In 2001 Mr. Flores joined the Michel Camilo Trio, and is featured on the Grammy Award–winning Live at the Blue Note and the critically acclaimed Spirit of the Moment.

Dafnis Prieto, Drums
A native of Santa Clara, Cuba, New York–based drummer, composer and percussionist Dafnis Prieto is easily one of the most impressive young drummers to burst onto the jazz scene during the past decade. Possessing awesome virtuosity and astonishing versatility, Mr. Prieto has contributed his highly creative and improvisational instincts to the music of a broad range of musical leaders, including Jane Bunnett, Eddie Palmieri, Chucho Valdes, Caribbean Jazz Project, Bebo Valdes to Steve Coleman, Don Byron, D.D. Jackson, Roy Hargrove, and Henry Threadgill, among others. He is the founding member of the Dafnis Prieto Sextet and Absolute Quintet, respectively.

In 2006, he was named Up & Coming Musician of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association, and in 2007 his release Absolute Quintet was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Latin Jazz Album category.

Mr. Prieto has been a member of the Michel Camilo Trio for the past four years and is featured on the album Spirit of the Moment.