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Chico O'Farrill

For over half a century, he was one of a pantheon of innovators who fused the soul-wrenching rhythms of African Cuba with the sweet harmonies of American jazz. Longtime admirers of the Latin jazz genre know O’Farrill as a master of sweeping, symphonic compositions that embraced his love of Debussy, Stravinsky, and the mambo; and as a bandleader who keeps alive the roar of a full dance band, as conductor of the Chico O’Farrill Afro-Cuban Jazz Big Band, which played New York’s Birdland every Sunday night. For much of his career he worked quietly in the background, crafting music that became a showcase for others: "Undercurrent Blues" for Benny Goodman; “Afro-Cuban Jazz Suite” for Charlie Parker and the Machito orchestra; “Trumpet Fantasy,” premiered at Lincoln Center in 1996 with soloist Wynton Marsalis; and more than 80 arrangements for Count Basie. His life began in Havana in 1921, where O’Farrill was born into a genteel Irish-German-Cuban family. When Chico was in his teens, he was expected to follow his father into the family law firm, with a short detour for training at a U.S. military school. "In the States, I started listening to big bands on the radio-Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey," Chico recalls. "And somewhere I got hold of a trumpet and joined the dance band in the school, and that sealed my fate." His father arranged for his son to study with Cuban composer Felix Guerrero. By 1945, the young trumpeter was playing with the popular dance band Orquesta Bellemar and teamed with guitarist Isidro Perez. He moved to New York in 1948, where he worked as a ghost writer for arranger Gil Fuller and wrote for his hero, Benny Goodman. O'Farrill’s compositions for Goodman, like "Undercurrent Blues" and "Shiskabop," gained attention among other Latin jazz artists, and he went on to work for Stan Kenton, Noro Morales, and Dizzy Gillespie, for whom he wrote “Carambola. He also did the charts for Stan Getz’s “Cuban Episode.” A Machito recording session that included Charlie Parker, and Buddy Rich, "The Afro-Cuban Jazz Suite," the piece they recorded on Dec. 21, 1950, was Mr. O'Farrill's successful blend of Latin and be-bop, an ambitious work that took a set contrasting themes and sophisticated harmony and infused them with a strong Latin rhythm that built up to a climactic crescendo. This was produced by Norman Granz, and Chico went on to record a number of albums for Granz's Clef and Nogran labels between 1951 and 1954.

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Video / DVD

Chico O'Farrill: Latin Modernist

Chico O'Farrill: Latin Modernist

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

Looking back, 1951 and '52 were groundbreaking years for jazz. Bebop was still lingering, cool jazz had already begun in '49, the R&B-influenced hard bop was just emerging and so was the relaxed sound of West Coast jazz. But these years also were important for Latin jazz and the dominant role played by Chico O'Farrill in its development. Up until 1951, the sound of Latin jazz was dominated by Machito and His Afro Cubans (above), a group that formed in ...

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Performance / Tour

End of an Era: The Chico O'Farrill Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra Leaving Birdland After 15 Years

End of an Era: The Chico O'Farrill Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra Leaving Birdland After 15 Years

Source: The Latin Jazz Corner by Chip Boaz

The Afro Latin Jazz Alliance announced that on Sunday, June 26, 2011, the Chico O'Farrill Afro Cuban Jazz Orchestra will conclude its residency at the famed Manhattan jazz club, Birdland, where it has performed every Sunday evening for over 15 years. Legendary Cuban composer and arranger Chico O'Farrill founded the orchestra in 1995, and his son, pianist Arturo O'Farrill, has directed the ensemble since his father's passing in 2001. Arturo O'Farrill issued the following statement: “Chico O'Farrill's music is a ...

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Event

Members of Los Mua Equitos de Matanzas and Michel Herrera from Cuba to Perform at Fundraiser May 18 Benefiting the Chico O'Farrill School of Jazz

Members of Los Mua Equitos de Matanzas and Michel Herrera from Cuba to Perform at Fundraiser May 18 Benefiting the Chico O'Farrill School of Jazz

Source: Two for the Show Media

NEW YORK—The Afro Latin Jazz Alliance announced today that members of Cuba's legendary Los Muñequitos de Matanzas, as well as Cuban saxophonist Michel Herrera, will perform at its fundraiser benefiting the Chico O'Farrill School of Jazz (COSJ) to be held Wednesday, May 18, 2011 at the Metropolitan Pavilion in New York City from 6-9PM. Los Muñequitos de Matanzas, Cuba's premiere Afro-Cuban folkloric group, recently concluded a three-day residency at Symphony Space in their first visit to New York since 2002. ...

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Event

Chico O'Farrill Celebration - Free Concert and Street Corner Renaming on June 29, 2005 starting at 6:30 PM

Chico O'Farrill Celebration - Free Concert and Street Corner Renaming on June 29, 2005 starting at 6:30 PM

Source: All About Jazz

A Celebration: Free Concert and Street Corner Renaming Event In Honor of Composer, Arranger and Band Leader Arturo “Chico" O'Farrill Wednesday, June 29, 2005 at 6:30 PM Riverside Park at Soldiers and Sailors Monument Between 88th and 89th Streets on Riverside Drive, New York, NY A Free Concert for the People of the City of New York Performed by The Chico O'Farrill Afro Cuban Jazz Orchestra conducted by Arturo O'Farrill with guest artist Wynton Marsalis Followed At 8 PM with ...

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Obituary

Chico O'Farrill Celebration - Free Concert and Street Corner Renaming on June 29, 2005 starting at 6:30 PM

Chico O'Farrill Celebration - Free Concert and Street Corner Renaming on June 29, 2005 starting at 6:30 PM

Source: All About Jazz

June 2, 2005 To: Listings/Critics/Features From: JAZZ PROMO SERVICES The Chico O'Farrill Legacy Committee Press Contacts: Lynne Mueller, [email protected] Ivan Acosta, [email protected] For Immediate Release A Celebration: Free Concert and Street Corner Renaming Event In Honor of Composer, Arranger and Band Leader Arturo “Chico" O'Farrill Wednesday, June 29, 2005 at 6:30 PM Riverside Park at Soldiers and Sailors Monument Between 88th and 89th Streets on Riverside Drive, New York, NY A Free Concert for the People of the City of ...

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Event

Juilliard Jazz Orchestra Plays Music Of Chico O'farrill Conducted By His Son, Arturo O'farrill Thursday, May 16, 2002 At 8 Pm In Alice Tully Hall

Juilliard Jazz Orchestra Plays Music Of Chico O'farrill Conducted By His Son, Arturo O'farrill Thursday, May 16, 2002 At 8 Pm In Alice Tully Hall

Source: All About Jazz

Juilliard Conversations In Jazz Series Continues With Trumpeters Clark Terry And Terell Stafford Monday, April 22, 2002 At 7pm In Juilliard’s Morse Hall

The Juilliard Institute for Jazz Studies’ Juilliard Jazz Orchestra plays its last concert of the 2001-2002 season on Thursday, May 16, 2002 at 8 PM in Alice Tully Hall. The Orchestra will play music of late Latin jazz master Chico O’Farrill, led by guest conductor Arturo O’Farrill, his son. After playing trumpet in various Cuban ...

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Music Industry

Chico O'Farrill: Prime Mover in Afro-Cuban Jazz

Chico O'Farrill: Prime Mover in Afro-Cuban Jazz

Source: All About Jazz

Chico O'Farrill was one of the main guiding lights in the emergence of Afro-Cuban Jazz in the late 1940s and early 1950s. He arrived in New York from his native Cuba at a point where musicians like Dizzy Gillespie and Machito had begun to forge a distinctive fusion of bebop and Cuban music, dubbed Cubop at the time, and quickly became a key figure in that movement. Ironically, he confessed to a rather low opinion of ...

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Heart Of A Legend

DRG Records
1999

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Cuban Blues: The...

Verve Music Group
1996

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Chico's Cha Cha Cha

DRG Records
1988

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Super Chops

DRG Records
1977

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Latin Roots

DRG Records
1976

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