The MANUEL VALERA Quartet
Joel Frahm, saxophone
Armando Gola, bass
Ernesto Simpson, drums
September 5, 2007
8:30 p.m.
Bucknell Hall – Free
MANUEL VALERA – Cuban pianist, bandleader, composer, and arranger – is in the forefront of contemporary modern jazz. He represents the next generation of improvising artists developing new composition and arranging techniques that bring together Cuban, Puerto Rican, Brazilian, and jazz styles. Born and raised in Havana, and now residing in New York City for the last seven years, Valera made his debut recording as a leader in 2004 at age 23 with his CD Forma Nueva, a collection of contemporary originals featuring John Patitucci, Horacio “El Negro” Hernandez, Bill Stewart, and Seamus Blake. His latest recording, Vientos, modern jazz in a chamber ensemble recorded in January 2007, includes a jazz quartet plus clarinet, oboe, bassoon, bass clarinet, and flute and features Joel Frahm, James Genus, and Ernesto Simpson. Manuel Valera has played with Paquito D’Rivera, John Benitez, Dafnis Prieto, Donny McCaslin, Claudio Roditi, Bobby Sanabria, Giovanni Hildago, Dave Valentin,William Cepeda, Eddie Gomez, and the Machito Orchestra. He is a graduate of Havana’s prestigious Conservatory Manuel Saumell and from the New School University in New York. Valera is this year’s recipient of Chamber Music America’s New Works commission, the recipient of 2005 and 2007 ASCAP Young Composer Awards, a Jazz Journalist Association awards final nominee for Up & Coming Musician of the Year, and was a finalist in the 2004 and 2006 Great American Piano Jazz Competitions. Visit www.manuelvalera.com for more information.
JOEL FRAHM was born in Racine,Wisconsin, in 1969, attended the Mason Gross School for the Arts, and earned a B.A. in Jazz Performance at Manhattan School of Music. He has steadily built his career through his collaboration with a veritable Who’s Who of jazz musicians. He released three highly regarded CDs on Palmetto: The Navigator, Don’t Explain (with Brad Mehldau), and Sorry No Decaf. His current release,We Used to Dance, places him in the company of master musicians Kenny Barron, Rufus Reid, and Victor Lewis. It shows both the chops and lyricism that have made him an irreplaceable part of so many sessions in his two decades on the jazz scene.
ARMANDO GOLA – orignally from Havana, Cuba – has performed and recorded with Gonzalo Rubalcabla, Arturo Sandoval, Alejandro Sanz, Ignacio Berroa. His first CD as a leader, Live Things, will be released in 2008 and features Rubalcabla, Berroa, trumpeter Mike Rodriguez, pianist Tony Pez and saxophonist Felipe Lamoglia.
ERNESTO SIMPSON was raised with music as a pervasive presence in Camaguey, Cuba. He studied at the Camaguey Conservatory of Music and pursued a degree at the National School of Instructors of Art in Havana. His exposure to a variety of percussion approaches and rhythms, combined with African, Cuban, and South American styles, has imbued his music with powerful and innovative concepts. As one of the most notable Latin jazz drummers today, he currently performs regularly with Richard Bona.
