Free Outdoor Concert to kick-off our 90th Anniversary Celebration! Manhattan School of Music Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra Bobby Sanabria, Director The Manhattan School of Music Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra directed by Grammy-nominated drummer and percussionist BOBBY SANABRIA with special guest NEA Jazz Master and Living Legend CANDIDO CAMERO, congas, perform a FREE outdoor concert in Harlem on Thursday, October 18. This concert, produced by VOZA RIVERS, will take place at the Harlem State Office Building Plaza located at 125th Street and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd., supported by Willie Walker, Office of General Services and the Harlem Arts Alliance. The concert takes place as part of Manhattan Takes Manhattan, an 18-month performance initiative in which Manhattan School of Music will be presenting the music made on the island of Manhattan over the past 90 years. Manhattan Takes Manhattan was created to celebrate the launch of the School’s 90th anniversary. Mr. Sanabria has selected a program that will reflect music made popular by eight of Harlem’s most illustrious residents – Mario Bauzá, Machito, Tito Puente, Tito Rodriguez, Chano Pozo, Dizzy Gillespie, Billy Strayhorn, and Duke Ellington. The concert will pay homage to Harlem’s rich musical legacy as well as the birth of the Afro-Cuban tradition, born in Harlem in the 193os and first performed in 1939 at the Park Place Ballroom (then located at 110th Street and Fifth Avenue) under the direction of Mario Bauzá leading the Machito Afro-Cubans. PROGRAM TO INCLUDE: Cuban Nightmare - composed and arranged by Tito Puente Blues A La Machito - composed by Walter Gil Fuller, arranged by Joe Fiedler Groovin' High - composed by Dizzy Gillespie, arranged by Mark Taylor, re-structured by Bobby Sanabria I've Just Seen Her - composed by Charles Strouse, arranged by Billy Strayhorn El Mundo De Las Locas - composed by Aaron Sachs, arranged by Joe Fiedler Manteca - composed by Chano Pozo, Dizzy Gillespie, Walter Gil Fuller, arranged by Rosino Serrano and Bobby Sanabria, featuring guest soloist and NEA Jazz Master, Candido - congas Harlem's history is replete with the personal stories of its many immigrant communities seeking a better life. Along with the Jews, Italians, Irish, and African American population, was the subsequent wave of Cubans and Puerto Ricans who arrived in the 1930s and ‘40s seeking a better life. Their culture contributed to a new form of music that Mario Bauza called, “a perfect marriage.” The repertoire selected for today's concert represents Harlem's legacy and importance to the birth of this musical marriage, the Afro-Cuban/Latin Jazz tradition. It was in 1939 at the Park Place Ballroom, located on 110 street and 5th Avenue, under the musical direction of Mario Bauza (a Harlem resident since coming from Havana, Cuba in 1930), that the Machito Afro-Cubans became the first orchestra to fuse jazz arranging techniques with Afro-Cuban rhythms. Thus Harlem, NYC, is the birthplace of Afro-Cuban/Latin jazz. The selections cover material made popular by eight of Harlem’s most illustrious residents, two of whom were native sons*. Mario Bauza, Machito, Tito Puente*, Tito Rodriguez*, Chano Pozo, Dizzy Gillespie, Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington. —Bobby Sanabria To read more about Bobby Sanabria, click here.   Date(s): Thu Oct 18, 2007 Event Time: 5:00 PM Location: 125th Street and Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Boulevard Price: Free—No Tickets Required Contact: Concert Office  917-493-4528 Additional Info: www.msmnyc.edu/90     [Back]