...dreaming in lions...

Description

The composer, conductor, and pianist Arturo O'Farrill, a GRAMMY winner, has realized what he calls "the dream of a lifetime" by signing a contract with Blue Note Records and releasing his first album Blue Note ...dreaming in lions... O'Farrill leads a colorful ensemble of 10 musicians that he calls the Afro-Latin Jazz Ensemble, a scaled-down version of his famous Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra. The program includes two multi-movement suites that O'Farrill designed in collaboration with the Cuban dance company Malpaso: "Despedida," a meditation on farewells, and "Dreaming in Lions," inspired by Ernest Hemingway's novel The Old Man and the Sea.
For O'Farrill, the suites provide the necessary space to convey extended narratives and cinematic ideas, a scope and intention that particularly interest him as a composer. Like his father, the legendary conductor Chico O'Farrill, he is committed to crossing musical boundaries to find an authentic and elevated expression. "I am very grateful to my father and to all my mentors who encouraged me to be more open to different influences," says O'Farrill. He has passed these values on to his sons, trumpeter Adam O'Farrill and drummer Zack O'Farrill, both of whom are featured on dreaming in lions. They are joined by multi-percussionists Vince Cherico, Carlos "Carly" Maldonado, and Victor Pablo Garcia Gaetan, bassist José "Bam Bam" Rodriguez Platiau, trombonist and euphonium player Rafi Malkiel, flutist/saxophonist Alejandro Aviles, and guitarist Travis Reuter.