On Sunday, the weekend concludes with the piano pyrotechnics of Dominican pianist and Westchester resident Michel Camilo. 81-year-old saxophonist, composer, band leader, and jazz legend, Jimmy Heath and his Big Band turn up the heat(h)! To start the afternoon, pianist Aaron Diehl, unleashing his brilliant technique and sensitive touch, shows why he is a new force on the jazz scene.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Michel Camilo, piano ~ Michel Camilois a native of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. He studied for 13 years at the National Conservatory, and at the age of 16 became a member of the National Symphony Orchestra of the Dominican Republic (NSODR). He moved to New York in 1979, where he studied at Mannes College and at The Juilliard School.
A pianist with a brilliant technique and a composer who flavors his tunes with Latin rhythms and jazz harmonies, his composition Why Not! titled an album by Paquito D'Rivera, and the Manhattan Transfer won a Grammy® Award (1983) for its vocal version of the piece. Mr. Camilo titled his own debut album Why Not! And followed it with Suntan/Michel Camilo In Trio.
He made his Carnegie Hall debut in 1985 with his trio and toured Europe that same year. Back in Santo Domingo, he conducted the NSODR in a classical program that included his own Emmy® Award-winning The Goodwill Games Theme. He was also musical director of the Dominican Republic's Heineken Jazz Festival, a post he held for five years until 1992.
His first three albums, Michel Camilo, On Fire, and On the Other Hand reached the top of the nationwide jazz radio play charts. Since then his recordings on various labels have included Rendezvous, One More Once, Thru My Eyes, Spain-Michel Camilo & Tomatito, Triangulo, Live at the Blue Note, Solo, Rhapsody In Blue, Spain Again and Spirit of the Moment. As a composer, pianists Katia and Marielle Labèque and Dizzy Gillespie have recorded Mr. Camilo's Caribe. The Labèques premiered Rhapsody for Two Pianos and Orchestra, a commission by the Philharmonia Orchestra. He composed the score for the award winning European film Amo Tu Cama Rica, and for Los Peores Años de Nuestra Vida and Two Much. Mr. Camilo has been a featured soloist, arranger and composer with the Danish Radio Big Band, and he toured as part of a three-piano ensemble with the Labèque sisters.
He has appeared as soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO); Cleveland Orchestra; Los Angeles Philharmonic; Atlanta Symphony; Copenhagen Philharmonic; BBC Symphony Orchestra; National Symphony Orchestra (Dominican Republic), Puerto Rico, Queens, Long Island; Gran Canaria Philharmonic, Murcia, Málaga, RTVE, Bilbao, Cadaques, National Symphony Orchestra (Spain), Madrid and Barcelona symphonies, Gulbenkian Symphony, New Japan Symphony; and the Carnegie Hall Big Band. The National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) selected him as co-artistic director (with Leonard Slatkin) of the first Latin-Caribbean Music Festival at the Kennedy Center, where he performed with his Trio and his Big Band and had the world premiere of his Concerto for Piano & Orchestra, commissioned by the NSO and conducted by Leonard Slatkin.
Mr. Camilo has also performed at the Royal Albert Hall (BBC Proms), Concertgebouw, Kennedy Center, Hollywood Bowl, Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood, Wolftrap and Carnegie Hall and has appeared elsewhere in New York at the Blue Note, Beacon Theater, Radio City Music Hall, Frederick P. Rose Hall, Alice Tully Hall and Avery Fisher Hall. He performed at the White House in an all-star program celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Newport Jazz Festival, broadcast nationwide by PBS as part of In Performance At The White House, and on NPR's A Jazz Piano Christmas, hosted by Tony Bennett.
Mr. Camilo regularly tours the Caribbean; Europe; South, Central and North America; Israel and Japan. He performed a series of solo piano recitals as part of Copenhagen's Cultural Capital of Europe festival, and has appeared on several occasions at the prestigious Klavier-Festival Ruhr in Germany. Besides his own works, Mr. Camilo has performed Gershwin's Rhapsody In Blue and Piano Concerto in F, as well as Ravel's Piano Concerto in G on several occasions. He also gives duo concerts with Flamenco guitarist Tomatito, winning a Latin Grammy® Award (2000) for their album Spain.
Mr. Camilo is featured among the artists in Calle 54, a film about Latin jazz by Academy Award winning director Fernando Trueba. His Classical CD for DECCA features him with the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leonard Slatkin performing his Concerto for Piano & Orchestra and his Suite for Piano, Strings & Harp. In March 2002, TELARC released Triangulo his Grammy® Award nominated Jazz Trio recording. His album Live at the Blue Note became a Grammy® Award winner (2004), he was named JazzWeek® Artist of the Year, served as president of the jury at the prestigious Montreux Jazz Festival Solo Piano competition and in December was voted among the Top 10 Jazz Pianists of the Year at the 69th Annual DownBeat® Readers Poll.
In January 2005, TELARC released Solo, Mr. Camilo’s highly acclaimed first solo piano recording. That same year Mr. Camilo performed his Piano Concerto with the Gulbenkian Symphony in Lisbon, as well as Gershwin’s Concerto in F with Spain’s National Symphony conducted by Leonard Slatkin; also gave Solo Piano recitals at the Rome, Lisbon and Barcelona Auditoriums. In February 2006, TELARC released Rhapsody In Blue which features Michel Camilo with the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra conducted by Ernest Martinez-Izquierdo which was awarded the 2006 Latin Grammy® for “Best Classical Album”. In May 2006, Universal Music Int’l released Spain Again which celebrates the reunion of Michel Camilo & Tomatito with their unique blend of Jazz and Flamenco, the duo has performed 40 concerts in 15 countries as part of their world tour.
March and April 2007 included performances of Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G in Barcelona as guest soloist with the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra conducted by Ernest Martínez Izquierdo, and his Concerto for Piano and Orchestra and Gershwin’s Rhapsody In Blue in Madrid and Seville with the Madrid Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jesús Lopez Cobos. On April 24, 2007, Camilo returned to the trio format with the critically acclaimed release of Spirit of the Moment. Last summer he appeared as Artist in Residence at the prestigious Klavier Festival Ruhr in Germany. In September he was featured at the Hollywood Bowl as guest soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by Leonard Slatkin, and in November he toured Europe with his Trio and also appeared as guest soloist with the Seville and Asturias Symphony Orchestras.
Among Mr. Camilo’s honors are the Knight of the Heraldic Order of Christopher Columbus and the Silver Cross of the Order of Duarte, Sanchez & Mella from the Dominican Government, as well as honorary degrees from his alma mater, Universidad Autonoma de Santo Domingo, and UTESA University of Santiago, Dominican Republic. The Duke Ellington School of the Arts created the “Michel Camilo Piano Scholarship” which helps talented inner-city students attend college. Berklee College of Music awarded Mr. Camilo an Honorary Doctorate in Music and also created the “Michel Camilo Scholarship,” which helps Dominican students come to the United States and study jazz.
