Artist Bios

April 16, 2010, 7pm

ARTISTS

JIM SEELEY (trumpet/flugelhorn, composer/arranger) studied at Berklee College of Music. He has toured, recorded and/or performed with Ray Charles, Chucho Valdes, The Duke Ellington Orchestra, Louis Bellson, Michel Camilo, Maynard Ferguson, Lester Bowie's Brass Fantasy, The Machito Orchestra, Greg Allman and Friends, and has been a long-standing member and featured soloist with The Chico O'farrill Afro-Cuban Big Band.  Jim is a member of Arturo O'Farrill's Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra (2009 Grammy winner-best Latin jazz), and is a frequent collaborator with Arturo O'Farrill in various small groups and ensembles, including a sextet that recently released its debut CD, entitled "Risa Negra."  As a clinician, he has conducted master classes in Thailand, Venezuela, Russia, Japan, Germany, Austria, Colombia, Hawaii and throughout the United States.  A CD of all original compositions,"The Jim Seeley/Arturo O'Farrill Quintet" is available on ZOHO RECORDS.

Arturo O’Farrill, an internationally recognized pianist, created the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra and founded the Afro-Latin Jazz Alliance, a non-profit group dedicated to the performance, education and preservation of Afro-Latin Jazz.   He has performed or recorded with Wynton Marsalis, Paquito D’Rivera, Dizzy Gillespie, Carla Bley, Noel Pointer, Gato Barbieri, Cachao, Arturo Sandoval and many others.  He has eight recordings as a leader, hundreds as a sideman, and has appeared in Calle 54. In collaboration with New York's Symphony Space, Arturo has produced cutting edge concerts of new music for the Afro-Latin Jazz genre, and as a composer, he has received commissions from Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Philadelphia Music Project, Big Apple Circus, and numerous films, including Hollywoodland. He is also the recipient of many honors, including Brooklyn College’s Distinguished Alumnus Award.  Born in Mexico of Cuban, Irish and Mexican heritage, Arturo lives in Brooklyn’s Park Slope with his wife, classical pianist Alison Deane, and sons Zachary and Adam.  Arturo O’Farrill is a Steinway Artist.