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Oscar Perez

Pianist Oscar Perez, a New York City native, has shared the stage with jazz legends Bunky Green, George Russell, Curtis Fuller, and George Garzone. He received his formal education at New England Conservatory and Aaron Copland School of Music under the guidance of Danilo Perez and Sir Roland Hanna, respectively.

Since moving back to New York, he has spent recent years traveling and playing in the musical groups of trombonist Wycliffe Gordon, saxophonist Virginia Mayhew, vocalist Cathy Elliott and vibraphonist Christian Tamburr with whom he has a new recording.

In addition to employment as a jazz pianist, he toured with vocalist Phoebe Snow performing in venues such as The Theatre at Madison Square Garden and Webster Hall. Television appearances include a taping of The Rosanne Show with special guest Michael McDonald. Recently, he has been appointed music director for St Edward’s Church in Harlem, N.Y. as well as accompanist for the Nightingale/Bamford Gospel Choir.

Latest travels have included Colombia, South America; Costa Rica; the AgraJazz Festival on the Azores Islands of Portugal and a month long tour throughout Russia including Moscow and Siberia.

His close association with the Colden Center, the Juilliard School and Jazz at Lincoln Center has provided him many teaching and performance opportunities with some of the world’s most innovative musicians such as Victor Goines and Wessel Anderson. In addition to sideman work, he can be seen locally with his own quartet which he fronts with vocalist Angel Desai.

His latest endeavor entitled NUEVO COMIENZO employs an instrumental quintet of extraordinary New York based artists. The sound draws from latin and jazz music to explore innovative arrangements.

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13
Album Review

Charlie Porter: Immigration Nation

Read "Immigration Nation" reviewed by Paul Rauch


Jazz has always carried with it a social narrative with historical ebbs and flows reliant on the polarizing issues of its time. With Immigrant Nation (OA2, 2019), Portland based trumpeter Charlie Porter embraces the forever narrative of American immigration, the historical force of humanity that has formed and enriched this country from its beginnings. The linear timeline of American immigration that widened at the beginning of the twentieth century has narrowed due to the gut wrenching actions of the current ...

10
Album Review

Oscar Perez: Prepare A Place For Me

Read "Prepare A Place For Me" reviewed by Mark Sullivan


The heart of this album is found in pianist/composer Oscar Perez's trio with bassist Thomson Kneeland and drummer Alvester Garnett. Their four tracks showcase the cohesive sound they have developed together, Perez's elegant pianism matched by his empathetic partners. It's a modern piano trio, with a conversational style and all members contributing. There's enough trio music here to give a well-rounded picture of what they can do. “Just Everything" opens the set with a trio version ...

5
Album Review

Oscar Perez: Prepare A Place For Me

Read "Prepare A Place For Me" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


If Oscar Perez hadn't taken to the piano, he might've had a promising career in music journalism. In the concise and profound liner essay for this album, Perez intelligently considers the meaning of music, the struggles and joys connected to the art of creating and performing, and the way an individual's very being seeps into the sounds they make and vice versa. His carefully chosen words say far more than most, but he needn't have penned the essay at all ...

99
Album Review

Oscar Perez / Nuevo Comienzo: Afropean Affair

Read "Afropean Affair" reviewed by Dave Wayne


On Afropean Affair , pianist/composer Óscar Pérez treads an appealing line between Afro-Latin jazz and modern jazz reminiscent of the Cuban band Irakere--or, perhaps, the first couple of Chick Corea Return to Forever discs, with saxophonist/flautist Joe Farrell and drummer Airto). A native of New York City, Pérez's early immersion in both Afro-Cuban and European classical music came courtesy of his parents, who hail from Cuba and Colombia. After studying violin, piano, and guitar as a youth, ...

366
Album Review

Oscar Perez: Nuevo Comienzo

Read "Nuevo Comienzo" reviewed by Matt Merewitz


Pianist Oscar Perez has not exactly gone unnoticed. Sure, you may not have heard of him before now. But esteemed trombonist Wycliffe Gordon has taken note, as have saxophonist George Garzone, trombonist Curtis Fuller, and composer George Russell, all of whom have incorporated the young New York-based pianist into their ensembles. Perez shows his ample skill on this first self-released album, incorporating the stylistic elements of Tyner, Hancock, Larry Willis, and Chucho Valdes.

A graduate of the LaGuardia High School ...

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44

Radio

Rockwired.Com's All New Jazzed and Blue Podcast Profiles the Oscar Perez Nuevo Comienzo and Their New Release "Afropean Affair"

Rockwired.Com's All New Jazzed and Blue Podcast Profiles the Oscar Perez Nuevo Comienzo and Their New Release "Afropean Affair"

Source: Rockwired Media LLC

The weekly online radio series Jazzed and Blue: Profiles in Blues and Jazz is back and is now available for download at Rockwired.com and features an exclusive interview with Oscar Perez of the Oscar Perez Nuevo Comienzo regarding the brand new release Afropean Affair. In the opening segment, Perez discusses the inspiration behind the tracks of his new project, working with a stellar combo comprised of saxophonist Stacy Dillard, trumpeter Greg Glassman, percussionist Emiliano Valerio, drummer Jerome Jennings, and bassist ...

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Immigration Nation

OA2 Records
2019

buy

Prepare A Place For Me

Self Produced
2015

buy

Afropean Affair

Chandra Records
2011

buy

Nuevo Comienzo

Self Produced
2006

buy

'Round Midnight

From: Prepare A Place For Me
By Oscar Perez

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