Santa Fe Jazz

“Jazz Meets The Classics” features 2010 Grammy Award Nominee, Pianist Danilo Perez

The Friends of Santa Fe Jazz is pleased to announce a collaboration with the Santa Fe Symphony that will bring the great Panamian jazz pianist Danilo Perez here to perform with the Symphony on Sunday, February 20, at 4 PM in the Lensic Performing Arts Center.

The concert event will be followed by a jazz “Club Symphony” dinner party at La Posada at 6 PM that will raise funds for a “Jazz Meets The Classics Fund” at Symphony to help support this and future such events. Danilo Perez will be guest of honor at the event which will also include the Bert Dalton Jazz Quintet jazz for listening and dancing pleasure.

Jazz enthusiasts may order tickets for the concert event and the party or for either separately. The concert single events tickets range from $20 - $70 per person and the party tickets including dinner and music are $125 per person, a portion of which is a tax deductible donation to the Santa Fe Symphony.

The unique dinner offerings prepared by La Posada specially for this occasion are drawn from published recipes of favorites of such jazz greats as Wynton and Branford Marsalis, Michel Camilo, Jim Hall, and of course, Danilo Perez himself.

Call 983-1414 for multi-concert event subscriptions or for single events through the Santa Fe Symphony office.

Santa Fe Symphony season subscribers have already received ticket ordering information. Order now to be included and help establish a major annual jazz event with the Santa Fe Symphony!

About Danilo Perez

Danilo Perez is regarded by many as among the most influential and dynamic musicians of our time and he is known for a distinctive blend of Pan-American jazz covering the music of the Americas, folkloric, and world music. Perez is a recipient of the 2009 Legacy Award from the Smithsonian Latino Center for those making a significant impact on American culture.

Perez was born in Panama in 1966 and is a graduate in composition and now a professor at Boston’s Berklee College of Music, where he heads the Berklee Global Jazz Institute.

He has performed and recorded with a “who’s who” of traditional and contemporary jazz figures including Michael Brecker, Jack DeJohnette, Paquito D’Rivera, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Haden, Roy Haynes, Jon Hendricks, Lee Konitz, Joe Lovano, Wynton Marsalis, Tito Puente, and Wayne Shorter.

His recordings include “Danilo Perez” in 1993 and “The Journey” in 1994, both for RCA Records; “PanaMonk” in 1996 and “Central Avenue” in 1998, both for Impulse Records: “Motherland in 2000 and “Til Then” in 2003, both for Verve Records; “Live at the Crystal Showcase” for Artist Share; and “Across the Crystal Sea” in 2008. Central Avenue won a Grammy nomination as Best Jazz Album of the Year and Motherland received Grammy nominations in two categories for Best Latin Jazz Album.

Perez’ latest cd, “Providencia,” was reviewed by Paul Weideman in the Pasa CD Review section (Sept 3-9, 2010). Weideman says about Providencia, “This is one of the best(cd) of 2010.” Weideman knows of what he speaks. Providencia was just nominated for a 2010 Grammy Award in the category of Best Instrumental Jazz Album.

Perez was the first jazz musician to perform with the Panamanian Symphony Orchestra which featured an expanded 80 piece orchestral version of “The Journey.”

Perez serves as Ambassador of Goodwill for UNICEF, Cultural Ambassador for Panama, President and co-founder of the Panama Jazz Festival, and Artistic Advisor of the innovative Mellon Jazz Close Up series at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia.