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Luis Bonilla

If ever an artist could be called an octopus, Luis Bonilla is it. The California raised, Costa Rican trombonist, composer and arranger has sought out, taken in and mastered an incredible array of musical styles. His success as a sideman with such greats as McCoy Tyner, Dizzy Gillespie, Lester Bowie, Tom Harrell, Freddie Hubbard, Astrud Gilberto, Willie Colon and Toshiko Akiyoshi attests not only to the skill and variety of Bonilla’s talent, but also to a mind restlessly committed to exploring some of the most complex and demanding music of our time.

Yet there is nothing rarefied about the Bonilla experience. He has worked as a studio musician with Tony Bennett, Marc Anthony, La India and Mary J. Blige and understands and exploits the liveliness of pop as well as the rhythmic sway and punch of Latin Jazz. Currently a member of the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra under Arturo O’Farrill’s direction (both 2009 Grammy winners) and Dave Douglas’s latest group (Dave Douglas & Brass Ecstasy), Bonilla is one of those rare artists whose work is always expanding, taking in more and more while remaining singular and focused: “Bonilla may be a trombonist used to handling that big long sliding thing, but when it comes to execution of his ideas, he lets nothing slide” (All About Jazz). Critics praised his first two albums on the Candid label, Pasos Gigantes (1998) and iEscucha! (2000), acknowledging Bonilla’s ability to give voice to radically different musical sensibilities with an ease and seamlessness that belies the rigor and sophistication of the music. Pasos Gigantes made Jazziz’s top ten Latin list of 1998. Even as early as these first two albums, critics noted Bonilla’s leadership and sophisticated use of tonal colors.

As a faculty member at both Temple University and Manhattan School of Music, Bonilla has an intuitive sense in how to bring out the best in those working with him. Listen to any of his albums and you will hear an extraordinary level of trust and inspiration in each band member’s playing. As the critic for All About Jazz noticed, “Bonilla gives his colleagues ample space to breathe, adding momentum to the flow of his compositional ideas.” His next album, 2007’s Terminal Clarity was a celebration, reflection and aesthetic extension of his years working with Lester Bowie. While retaining the brash harmonic structures of his mentor’s work from Brass Fantasy to his earlier and justly famous work with the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Bonilla adds a “contagious exuberance” (Jazzwise magazine) that is at the heart of his artistic vision.

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37
Album Review

Russell Scarbrough: Fun Times

Read "Fun Times" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Bandleader Russell Scarbrough has an intriguing motto: “If it's not fun, we're not doing it right!" He also had an intriguing way of recording his debut album, Fun Times, to which an entire review could be devoted. Suffice to say that the individual parts were taped in isolation owing to the Covid pandemic and sent to Scarbrough for inclusion on the album, sometimes taking up to a year to complete. Scarbrough “could afford to be patient," he writes, “as [he] ...

Album Review

Vanguard Jazz Orchestra: OverTime: Music of Bob Brookmeyer

Read "OverTime: Music of Bob Brookmeyer" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi


Questo disco ci è giunto con un po' di ritardo ma va assolutamente segnalato. È infatti uno dei migliori dischi dell'anno nonchè un omaggio al genio orchestrale di Bob Brookmeyer. Forse non tutti sanno che lo storico trombonista, partner negli anni cinquanta di Stan Getz, Gerry Mulligan e Jimmy Giuffre, è stato uno di massimi orchestratori moderni: nel 1966 partecipò alla fondazione della Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra, scrivendo decine di partiture, e nel 1990 ne divenne il direttore, quando la ...

8
Album Review

Vanguard Jazz Orchestra: OverTime: Music of Bob Brookmeyer

Read "OverTime: Music of Bob Brookmeyer" reviewed by John Ephland


There's a richness, a depth, a density to his varied charts. And the soloists and ensemble passages inside those charts! Such has always been the case with the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, then, and now. For real, gliding from the spirit of Thad Jones and Mel Lewis, this edition of the VJO now embraces another one of its own: trombonist/composer/arranger/pianist Bob Brookmeyer, with Over Time: Music Of Bob Brookmeyer. And what different sound comes from this grand aggregate of ...

5
Album Review

Vanguard Jazz Orchestra: OverTime: Music of Bob Brookmeyer

Read "OverTime: Music of Bob Brookmeyer" reviewed by Jack Bowers


While it may be hard to believe, the reality is that the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra is nearing the end of its first half-century together. Formed in 1966 as the Thad Jones -Mel Lewis Orchestra, it continued on after Jones' departure as the Mel Lewis Orchestra, then as the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra after Lewis' death in February 1990. During many of those years, the ensemble was enriched by the compositions and arrangements of the renowned Bob Brookmeyer (1929-2011), a master craftsman ...

15
Extended Analysis

The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra: OverTime: Music Of Bob Brookmeyer

Read "The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra: OverTime: Music Of Bob Brookmeyer" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


Trumpeter Thad Jones and drummer extraordinaire Mel Lewis may have given birth to the band that's now known as The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, but the late Bob Brookmeyer gave the group artistic independence at a time when it was sorely needed. When Jones left the fold and departed for Europe at the tail end of the '70s, things could've gone a very different way for this storied outfit: it could've simply carried on as a pretty good ...

3
Live From New York

Luis Bonilla, Terri Lyne Carrington, Tony Levin & Otis Taylor

Read "Luis Bonilla, Terri Lyne Carrington, Tony Levin & Otis Taylor" reviewed by Martin Longley


The Luis Bonilla Quintet Dizzy's Club March 19, 2013 For two nights only, trombonist Luis Bonilla brought his quintet to Dizzy's Club. The first set on the first evening launched off into an assured blast of convoluted style amalgamation. Many might view Bonilla as a Latin jazz specialist because of his Costa Rican background, but the Californian 'bone man bandleader's version of jazz skirts many different zones, usually within each individual composition. Opening ...

308
Album Review

Luis Bonilla: Twilight

Read "Twilight" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


I Talking Now! (Planet Arts, 2009) presented a brazen bonanza of trombone playing from Luis Bonilla. That high energy outing--filled with intense, outspoken instrumental wonders--contained great music that was, to some extent, one-sided in the way that it portrayed Bonilla and his quintet. Twilight, on the other hand, is a well-balanced feast for the aural senses. The majority of the personnel from his prior recording is kept intact--the only major roster shift coming at piano, with Bruce ...

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86

Event

CMA First Tuesdays Begin October 5th with Mariah Wilkins and Luis Bonilla in "Talking Business"

Source: Susan Dadian

NEW YORK, NY—Chamber Music America (CMA), in partnership with Saint Peter's Jazz Ministry and the Midtown Arts Commons, announces the start of its eighth annual First Tuesdays series, free professional-development seminars for musicians and presenters that focus on a wide range of practical issues critical to the working ensemble. Seminars take place on the first Tuesday of the month, from 3:00-5:00 p.m., beginning in October at Saint Peter's Church at 619 Lexington Avenue at 54th Street in New York City. ...

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Recording

Luis Bonilla, "I Talking Now!" (2009)

Luis Bonilla, "I Talking Now!" (2009)

Source: Something Else!

By NICK DERISO Luis Bonilla's “I Talking Now" (NJCO/Planet Arts), from the first bristling blast of trombone on the title track, is dashing down a busy city street. It's difficult to tell, at first, if he's running away from or toward something. Whatever the apprehensions, you are quickly surrounded by all of the nervy beauty and the exhilarating clatter we've come to associate with urban life -- and with jazz. Bonilla knows this town, the alley ways and ...

138

Performance / Tour

The Luis Bonilla Quintet - March 26, 2010 - Live at the Rubin Museum in New York City as Part of the Harlem in the Himalayas Series.

The Luis Bonilla Quintet - March 26, 2010 - Live at the Rubin Museum in New York City as Part of the Harlem in the Himalayas Series.

Source: Two for the Show Media

Luis Bonilla, trombone Ivan Renta, saxophone Bruce Barth, piano Andy McKee, bass Henry Cole, drums

The California raised, Costa Rican trombonist, composer and arranger is one of those rare artists whose work is always expanding, taking in more and more while remaining singular and focused: “Bonilla may be a trombonist used to handling that big long sliding thing, but when it comes to execution of his ideas, he lets nothing slide" (All ...

147

Interview

Trombonist Luis Bonilla Interviewed at AAJ...And More!

Trombonist Luis Bonilla Interviewed at AAJ...And More!

Source: All About Jazz

Trombonist, composer, bandleader and professor Luis Bonilla is not a tortured artist. One cannot imagine him careening from one imbalanced extreme of self- reflection to the other or participating in anything particularly self-indulgent, whatsoever. He is a loving husband and a father who seems to inhale and exhale commitment to his two-year-old daughter. The middle son of a Costa Rican father and mother, he grew up in a workingman's home and is a hard working man himself, dedicated to getting ...

133

Radio

The Jazz Session #118: Luis Bonilla

The Jazz Session #118: Luis Bonilla

Source: Michael Ricci


108

Performance / Tour

Latin Jazz Trombonist Luis Bonilla at South Orange Performing Arts Center

Latin Jazz Trombonist Luis Bonilla at South Orange Performing Arts Center

Source: AMT Public Relations

South Orange Peforming Arts Center (SOPAC) Welcomes Luis Bonilla, Afro-Cuban Latin Jazz.

Tuesday, October 20 at 7:30pm Tickets: $25, $15, $8 Contact SOPAC 973.313.ARTS

Jazz 'n the Hall Presented by Seton Hall Arts Council, Grammy-winning Afro-Cuban/Latin Jazz trombonist, composer and bandleader, Luis Bonilla, explodes the usual musical structures of both kinds of music (NY Times). Bonilla is a prominent force in the N.Y. and international Jazz and Latin scenes. The energetic and improvisational performance ...

144

Recording

New CD Release from Luis Bonilla "I Talking Now"

New CD Release from Luis Bonilla "I Talking Now"

Source: Michael Ricci

The trombonist Luis Bonilla hears jazz as playful, rough, cathartic, chaotic, tender, swinging, funky and inherently, demonstrably Latin. At any point in I Talking Now! his quintet usually satisfies at least three of those descriptions at once.

Mr. Bonilla, who wrote all the music here and plays in strong percussive blasts and fully articulated bebop phrases, has for nearly 20 years been a soloing trombonist in several New York repertory big bands. For this record, his fourth, he's drawn his ...

162

Recording

Trombonist/Composer Luis Bonilla Releases New CD Titled “I Talking Now!”

Trombonist/Composer Luis Bonilla Releases New CD Titled “I Talking Now!”

Source: Two for the Show Media

Trombonist/Composer Luis Bonilla releases new CD titled I Talking Now! on NJCO/Planet Arts Recordings Luis Bonilla calls his new album I Talking Now!, but that title neglects to mention that when Bonilla really wants to speak his mind, he only needs to put his lips to the mouthpiece of his trombone. One of the most prolific and innovative artists on the New York jazz scene, Bonilla—whose long list of credits includes stints with Dizzy Gillespie, McCoy Tyner, Lester Bowie, Tony ...

“Luis Bonilla shows remarkable creativity and versatility.." --New York Newsday

“Bonilla slips, slides and scurries around some mesmerizing patterns" --Jazz Times Magazine

“Luis Bonilla is one of the finest trombone players on the scene today. No one sounds like him or writes like him, he is a unique and remarkable artist” --Grammy Winner Arturo O’Farrill

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Fun Times

Self Produced
2023

buy

OverTime: Music of...

Planet Arts Records
2014

buy

Rare Metals

Greenleaf Music
2011

buy

Twilight

Planet Arts Records
2010

buy

Casually Blue

Suresong Music
2010

buy

Safeway

From: Rare Metals
By Luis Bonilla

I Talking Now

From: I Talking Now!
By Luis Bonilla

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