NEW SCHOOL UNIVERSITY'S JAZZ PROGRAM SPRING 2003 CONCERT SERIES
OPENS WITH NEW SCHOOL UNIVERSITY'S AFRO-CUBAN JAZZ ORCHESTRA
CONDUCTED BY BOBBY SANABRIA ON TUESDAY, MARCH 18, 2003 AT 7 PM

CONCERT CELEBRATES THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ORCHESTRA
WITH SPECIAL GUEST ARTISTS CANDIDO CAMERO AND DAVE VALENTIN

(New York, NY – March 5, 2003) New School University's Jazz Program will present three concerts this spring 2003 featuring the Jazz Program's Orchestra Repertory Ensembles. Students in the Jazz Program have the opportunity to participate in these ensembles and work closely with the instructors who have vast experience in their performance areas. Featured ensembles in the series include The New School University Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra conducted by Bobby Sanabria on Tuesday, March 18, 2003 at 7:00 p.m., The Mingus Ensemble Big Band with conductor Charles Tolliver on Monday, April 21, 2003, and The Sun Ra Orchestra with conductor Ahmed Abdullah on Thursday, May 5, 2003.

New School University's Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra conducted by Bobby Sanabria will be joined by special guest artists renowned flautist Dave Valentin and conga legend Cándido Camero on Tuesday, March 18, 2003 at 7:00 p.m., at Tishman Auditorium, New School University, 66 West 12th Street, NYC. Tickets are $10 and may be purchased at the New School Box Office, located in the lobby of 66 West 12th Street. (Box office hours are Monday through Thursday, 1:00 – 8:00 p.m., Friday, 1:00 – 7:00 p.m.). Tickets may also be charged by calling 212-229-5488.

Bobby Sanabria has performed and recorded with a veritable who's who in the world of Jazz and Latin music, as well as with his own critically acclaimed ensemble Ascension. His diverse recording and performance experience includes work with such legendary figures as Dizzy Gillespie, Tito Puente, Paquito D'Rivera, Charles McPherson, Mongo Santamaria, Ray Barretto, Larry Harlow, Marco Rizo, Luis "Perico" Ortiz, Chico O'Farrill, Henry Threadgill, and the pioneering godfather of Afro-Cuban Jazz, Mario Bauzá.

Sanabria was born and raised in the "Fort Apache" section of New York City's South Bronx to Puerto Rican parents. Inspired and encouraged by Maestro Tito Puente, another fellow New York-born Puerto Rican, Sanabria "got serious" and attended Boston's Berklee College of Music from 1975 to 1979, where he obtained his Bachelor of Music degree. Since graduating from Berklee, he has become a leader in the Afro-Cuban and Jazz fields as both a drummer and a percussionist, as well as being recognized as one of the most articulate scholars of "la tradición."

He has been featured on numerous Grammy-nominated albums including "The Mambo Kings" movie soundtrack and numerous television/radio jingles and other movie soundtracks. He first received worldwide critical acclaim when he was with the legendary Mario Bauzá and his Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra, with whom he recorded three Grammy-nominated CDs. They are considered to be the definitive works of the Afro-Cuban Big Band Jazz-tradition. Sanabria was also featured with the Bauzá Orchestra on two PBS documentaries about Mario Bauzá, and on "The Bill Cosby Show."

In 2000, he recorded Afro-Cuban Dream... Live & in Clave on the Arabesque label which was recorded live at Birdland in New York City. Down Beat Magazine said of Afro-Cuban Dream..."it expands on the big band tradition by giving it a unique 21st century stamp and shows an artist ready to take his place in the continuum..." It was honored with a Grammy nomination for best Latin Jazz recording of the year in 2001.

His latest recording released in October of 2002, Bobby Sanabria & Quarteto Aché on the Khaeon label has recently garnered worldwide critical acclaim from the jazz press. Modern Drummer magazine recently gave it its highest rating and called the work a classic.

Sanabria continues his activities as an educator conducting clinics worldwide. He is on the faculties of New School University's Jazz Program and The Manhattan School of Music in their Jazz division

About New School University's Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra

Ten years ago, Sanabria became a member of the faculty of New School University teaching a small ensemble dedicated to the intricacies of the Afro-Cuban jazz canon. The interest was so great that in less than a month Sanabria decided to form a big band in order to fully explore the genre and its rich heritage. "Since I was fortunate enough to have worked with the originator of the Afro-Cuban Jazz tradition, Mario Bauzá as his drummer, I felt it was imperative that I pass what I have learned and experienced on to the next generation of musicians. The Afro-Cuban Jazz tradition was born right here in NYC in 1940 with the Orchestra of Machito & his Afro-Cubans under Mario's baton. It is only natural for this ensemble to exist."

The orchestra has produced a stellar group of players that have gone on to make their mark in the Jazz and Latino jazz worlds. Bassist Avishai Cohen (Chick Corea), drummer Jaz Sawyer (Abbey Lincoln, Los Hombres Calientes), saxophonists Karolina Strassmayer (Diva), Ivan Renta (Eddie Palmieri) are only just a few of the students that have come through the ensemble.

Since its formation, a stellar group of guest soloists have always been featured at concerts by the Orchestra. From Slide Hampton, John Patitucci, Ronnie Cuber, Bobby Watson, Steve Turre, Conrad Herwig, Randy Brecker, Hilton Ruiz, Arturo O'Farill, to name just a few, have graced the stage with these young musicians under maestro Sanabria's leadership. The very first guest soloist was Cándido Camero, and it is with great pleasure and honor that we invite him back for this special event.

In addition, the Orchestra's end of month Sunday concerts at The Nuyorican Poets Café in NYC have provided musical outreach to the community and an opportunity for these young musicians to be heard. But most of all, the concerts have educated a whole new generation of mamboniks.

Cándido Camero is living testimony to the history of Cuban music and modern jazz. Born in 1921 in La Habana's El Cerro barrio, he started his career playing bass, guitar and the Cuban tres. Of note was his work as a tres player with Conjunto Azul, a group that was led by the legendary percussionist/composer Luciano "Chano" Pozo. On bongo in this group was a boyhood friend who would later become noteworthy in his own right, Ramon "Mongo" Santamaria. Camero switched to the bongo and congas, becoming noted for his progressive style on both instruments. This led to a six year stint with the CMQ Radio Orchestra in Havana and another stint as a bassist and featured percussionist at the world renowned Cabaret Tropicana.

In 1946, Camero first came to the U.S. with the fiery rumba dance team of Carmen and Rolando. It was with this revue where Camero demonstrated an unheard of technique in his conga drumming was playing a steady rhythm with one hand while improvising with the other - thus becoming the father of coordinated independence in Cuban drumming. This was also the first time anyone had ever played two congas simultaneously in any context. Soon thereafter, Camero was performing and recording as featured soloist with the likes of Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Billy Taylor, Machito and his Afro-Cubans.

By 1952, Camero was hailed by New York Jazz critics as the greatest Cuban drummer to come to the U.S., since the spectacular Chano Pozo took New York by storm before being killed in 1948. In 1954 he was the featured soloist with Stan Kenton's Big Band and became known nationwide on their coast-to-coast tour. He also appeared on Duke Ellington's album, The Drum is a Woman, and performed on the Steve Allen Show and the Ed Sullivan Show. Camero performs on hundreds of other recordings with such famed artists as Coleman Hawkins, Woody Herman, George Shearing, Errol Garner, Lionel Hampton, Tito Puente, and Tony Bennett. He has been featured in recent years in a PBS documentary on the life of Machito and in a television special on the life of Dizzy Gillespie. He is featured on the recently Grammy nominated recordings such as "The Conga Kings" and "Afro-Cuban Dream – Live & In Clave with Bobby Sanabria."

Flutist, composer, arranger and band leader, Dave Valentin, is one of the most in-demand soloists in Latin Jazz music today. Born in the South Bronx in 1952 to Puerto Rican parents from the city of Mayaguez, Valentin studied percussion at New York City's High School of Music and Art before taking up the flute at the age of 16. He studied privately with master jazz and classical flutist Hubert Laws. In 1979, at the age of 26, he recorded his first album as a leader, initiating a long-running association with GRP, a contemporary jazz label noted for its all-star roster and pioneering role in digital recording technology. The partnership produced 16 albums and solidified Valentin's position as one of the best selling Latino Jazz instrumental artists of the era, as documented by a Grammy nomination and selection by the readers of JAZZIZ magazine for six consecutive years as the top flutist in jazz.

As of late Mr. Valentin has been a member of Dave Samuel's Caribbean Jazz Project and their latest release received a Grammy as best Latin jazz recording of 2003.

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New School University's Jazz & Contemporary Music Program offers a B.F.A. degree program in Jazz Performance, and in Composing and Arranging. The faculty includes such renowned artists as Reggie Workman, Chico Hamilton, Buster Williams, Jimmy Owens, Benny Powell, Joanne Brackeen, and Jane Ira Bloom. Alumni of the program include many of today's most prominent jazz artists - Larry Goldings, Brad Mehldau, Roy Hargrove, Miri Ben-Ari, Peter Bernstein, Ali M. Jackson, and Virginia Mayhew, among others. Martin Mueller is the Executive Director of the Jazz Program. For more information on the Jazz Program, call (212) 229-5896. To find out about upcoming events and performances, visit www.newschool.edu/jazz.

New School University, with 7,000 matriculated students and 25,000 continuing education students, is a New York City university committed to critical scholarship, artistic integrity, and ethical responsibility in the social sciences, humanities, the arts and design. It is comprised of a liberal arts foundation of three schools: The New School, Eugene Lang College and the Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Science, and five professional schools: Parsons School of Design, Mannes College of Music, Actors Studio Drama School, Milano Graduate School of Management and Urban Policy, and the Jazz & Contemporary Music Program. New School Online University offers one of the largest selections of online courses in the nation. For further information about admission to New School University, call (877) 5Ave-321 or go to the Web site at www.newschool.edu.