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Florencia Gonzalez

“Florencia Gonzalez performance (…) was again one of the most interesting and enjoyable acts, with the right balance between school and street, between north and south, between the past and future of music.” —LA DIARIA

“...tracks driven by Latin dance rhythms (tango, candombe, etc) but stretched into modern realms of harmony, rhythm and form that recall the best of Mingus, Monk and Gil Evans...”

“...an array of colors... as she marries modern jazz harmony and the occasional 12 tonish classical master to the deepest folkloric traditions of the south of South America.” —THE BOSTON PHOENIX

Florencia, composer, performer (multi woodwind player, singer), and session musician, leads bands that range from a duo of guitar and saxophone to a 20-piece Big Band. Her Big Band has been together since 2007; playing regularly in Boston until 2011, when it was selected one of the best 5 jazz bands in Boston right before moving to New York, where she established a new Big Band composed by the finest jazz musicians of the city.

Parallel to her large ensembles (Big Band and 11 Piece Band), she leads a Candombe Project, which includes horns, percussion, singing and a lot of beautiful tunes from Uruguay and Argentina. This project performs regularly in New York and has been part of a number of jazz and Latin music festivals.

Born and raised in Montevideo, Uruguay, her music career there encompassed a lot of different styles in a variety of groups (jazz, tango, bossa nova, rock, pop, funk, candombe, etc.).

She studied classical saxophone performance in Uruguay and as a classical musician was selected in 2003 as first saxophone of the National Symphonic Orchestra. In 2004 she moved to Boston, where she graduated with honors from Berklee College of Music with a dual Bachelor Degree in Jazz Composition and Performance. After graduating from Berklee College of Music she pursued her Master’s Degree in Jazz Composition at New England Conservatory, from where she also graduated with honors.

Florencia has studied with George Garzone, Joe Lovano, Jerry Bergonzy, Charlie Banacos, Hall Crook, Michael Gandolfi, Ken Schaphorst, Frank Calberg, Ed Tomassi, Ken Pullig and Greg Hopkins among others.

Currently she is also working as a music educator, teaching Music Theory, Ear Training, Jazz Ensemble and Woodwinds in various New York City music schools and conservatoires.

Florencia Gonzalez: Between Loves

Read "Between Loves" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian

by Hrayr Attarian
August 15, 2014

On her second album as a leader, the sumptuous and intimate Between Loves, Montevideo born and New York based saxophonist Florencia Gonzalez elegantly merges a refreshingly innovative spontaneity and a mesmerizing Latin romanticism. The result is a thematically cohesive and multi-textured release that crackles with boppish energy as it draws on motifs from her native culture.For instance “Women Dreaming of Escape" opens as a tense and passionate tango. Gonzalez's thick, organic tenor leads the brass duo in hypnotic, ...

Album Review

Florencia Gonzalez: Between Loves

Read "Between Loves" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
May 18, 2014

Uruguay-born, New York-based tenor saxophonist Florencia Gonzalez wrote the material that appears on this album during her first years in the United States. That time period found her focusing on narrowing geographical and artistic divides, creating music that exists between worlds. Gonzalez's debut album--Woman Dreaming Of Escape (Self Produced, 2012)--found her working out her compositional personality with a big band. Here, she goes with a three-horns-plus-rhythm sextet, but the band often sounds bigger. A good case in point ...

Recording

Florencia Gonzalez Big Band CD Release

Source: Florencia Gonzalez
August 13, 2012

Described by the Boston Phoenix as “recalling the best of Mingus, Monk and Gil Evans...” Florencia Gonzalez Big Band has been together since 2007; playing regularly at the Lily Pad every other Thursday, and was selected last year one of the best 5 jazz bands in Boston. Being originally from Uruguay, her music infuses jazz and classical music with tango, candombe, chacarera and many other rhythms brought from the southern region of South America, incorporating extra woodwind colors, such as ...
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“ Florencia Gonzalez performance (…) was again one of the most interesting and enjoyable acts, with the right balance between school and street, between north and south, between the past and future of music. ”

LA DIARIA

“…Florencia’s charts have an air you may call third Third-Stream, you may call world music. I’ d call it worth hearing.”

JAZZ INSIDE

“…Woman Dreaming is in most respects a showcase for Gonzalez’ ultra-modern compositions and arrangements, and she doesn’t disappoint. As another flag-bearer in the ranks of such avant-garde writers as Schneider Carla Bley, Hazel Leach, Christina Fuchs and others, Gonzalez has made the sort of remarkable beginning that presages a bright and productive future. ”