Jazz Masters: Arturo O'Farrill

Blue Note recording artist, pianist, composer, and educator, Arturo O’Farrill be joined by WMU Jazz Studies students and faculty for an exciting night of Afro-Latin Jazz.

An 8-time GRAMMY Award winner, O’Farrill was born in Mexico and grew up in New York City where he performed with a wide array of artists including Carla Bley, Dizzy Gillespie, Lester Bowie, Wynton Marsalis, Harry Belafonte and the original Chico O’Farrill Afro Cuban Jazz Orchestra, led by his father, the legendary Cuban composer and arranger.

Arturo O’Farrill & the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra has enjoyed a Sunday night residency at the illustrious Birdland Jazz Club in New York for over 25 years. He is the founder of the Afro Latin Jazz Alliance, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the performance, education, and preservation of Afro Latin music. His latest album ‘Legacies’ has received rave reviews and DownBeat Magazine calls O’Farrill “One of our greatest living pianists.”