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Danilo Prez and the Lula Big Band with John Patitucci, Brian Blade, Miguel Zenon, Pedrito Martinez, Jane Bunnett & Berklee Global Jazz Institute
Grammy Award-winning pianist Danilo Prez gathers a stellar international ensemble for the world premire of his new composition commissioned by the TORONTO 2015 Pan Am / Parapan Am Games arts and culture festival, PANAMANIA, presented by CIBC.
Produced with the support of the City of Toronto through the Toronto Arts Council.
This concert is co-presented by Toronto Summer Music Festival, Panamania, and Lula Music and Arts Centre.
What could be a better fit for PANAMANIA, the 35-day culture festival presented by CIBC for the Toronto 2015 Pan Am and Parapan Games, than a project involving jazz musicians from across the Americas and featuring an artist known for his musical chronicling of the history of the Americas?
Danilo Prez remarkable explorations of the origins of the Americas have been a thread in his work for more than two decades. Last year, he released the album Panama 500 to mark the 500th anniversary of Spanish explorer Balboa crossing the Isthmus of Panama.
Prez compositions weave together jazz informed by Gillespie as mentor and Monk as inspiration with Pan-American folkloric traditions and elements of European classical music. His pieces have previously been commissioned by Carnegie Hall and the Lincoln Centre.
An exquisite player, brilliant composer, inspired educator and social justice advocate, Prez serves as the Artistic Director of both the Panama Jazz Festival and the Berklee Global Jazz Institute BGJI in Boston and is a UNESCO Artist for Peace as well as a Cultural Ambassador for Panama.
A new piece that Prez has composed specifically for the project will allow the Toronto2015 Games to have a lasting musical legacy on the global jazz scene.
The inspiration for this piece is the story of the arrival of the Spaniards, Europeans, Middle Eastern and African cultures to America. This “expedition” is written in three movements: the first narrates the arrival of the Europeans, the second part is when the Africans are brought, and the third is the new world. Danilo Prez
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