Harvard Jazz Master in Residence

The Office for the Arts names Danilo Pérez 2024

Harvard University Jazz Master in Residence

Acclaimed Pianist Will Perform with Harvard Jazz Orchestra on April 6 at Sanders Theatre.

(Cambridge, MA)— The Office for the Arts at Harvard and Harvard Jazz Orchestra, directed by Yosvany Terry, announce that Danilo Pérez, Grammy winning pianist-composer, will be the 2024 Jazz Master in Residence at Harvard University this spring. Pérez will be in residence April 1–6, 2024. Saturday, April 6, 8 p.m.: Music of the Americas: Harvard Jazz Orchestra Honors Danilo Pérez, a concert featuring the Harvard Jazz Orchestra with 2024 Harvard Jazz Master Danilo Pérez, at Sanders Theatre, 45 Quincy St., Cambridge. Tickets are $15 for general public, and $8 for students and seniors $8, and will be available later this month through the Harvard Box Office at Farkas Hall, 10 Holyoke St., online at boxoffice.harvard.edu, or by calling 617.496.2222 (phone and online orders subject to service fees). Free parking is available at the Broadway Garage, 7 Felton St. For more information, call 617.495.8676 or visit: https://boxoffice.harvard.edu.

As a solo artist and as a collaborator with jazz giants from Dizzy Gillespie to Wayne Shorter, for over three decades Grammy Award-winning Panamanian pianist-composer Danilo Pérez has been lauded as one of the most creative forces in contemporary music. With jazz as the anchoring foundation, Pérez’s Global Jazz music is a blend of Panamanian roots, Latin American folk music, West African rhythms, European impressionism – promoting music as a borderless and multidimensional bridge between all people.

Born in Panama in 1965, Pérez started musical studies at age 3 with his father, a bandleader and singer. By age 10, he was studying the European classical piano repertoire at the National Conservatory in Panama. After receiving his bachelor’s degree in electronics in Panama, he studied jazz composition at Berklee College of Music. While still a student, he performed with Jon Hendricks, Terence Blanchard, Slide Hampton, Claudio Roditi and Paquito D’Rivera. Quickly established as a young master, he soon toured and/or recorded with artists such as Dizzy Gillespie United Nations Orchestra, Jack DeJohnette, Steve Lacy, Lee Konitz, Charlie Haden, Michael Brecker, Joe Lovano, Tito Puente, Wynton Marsalis, Tom Harrell, Gary Burton and Roy Haynes.

In 1993, Pérez turned his focus to his own ensembles and recording projects, releasing several albums as a leader, earning Grammy and Latin Grammy nominations for Central Avenue (1998), Motherland (2000), Across The Crystal Sea (2008), and Providencia (2010). In 1996, he was signed by producer Tommy Lipuma to join the Impulse label and recorded Panamonk, a tribute to Thelonious Monk which DownBeat magazine called one of the most important piano albums in the history of jazz. Pérez’s album Central Avenue, featured mejoranera music and was chosen as one of the 10 best recordings across genres by TIME Magazine in 1998. Across The Crystal Sea in 2008, a collaboration between Pérez and the prolific composer and arranger Claus Ogerman, was praised by The Guardian as “so ultra-smooth it achieves something like a state of grace.” Pérez made his Mack Avenue Records debut in 2010 with the release of Providencia. The album was nominated for a 2011 Grammy Award in the category of Best Instrumental Jazz Album.

Pérez joined the Wayne Shorter Quartet in 2010 with John Patitucci and Brian Blade. This latest iteration from Shorter has been known as a unique and predominant force in improvisational music both at their historic live performances and on several recordings. In 2018, Blue Note records released the highly anticipated EMANON from the Wayne Shorter Quartet, which won a Grammy in the category of Best Jazz Instrumental album in 2019.

For several years, Pérez has also been touring with his trio–featuring Ben Street and Adam Cruz, and with Children of the Light, a collaboration with Wayne Shorter Quartet members John Patitucci and Brian Blade. Mack Avenue released the Children of the Light album in 2015 to great critical acclaim.

Pérez’s current touring project, the Global Messengers, spreads the idea that music can serve as a natural remedy to unfortunate situations, providing an uplifting message, connection, and common ground. The ensemble features musicians from diverse cultural backgrounds, coming together to build community through music.

As a composer, Pérez has been commissioned by The Lincoln Center, Chicago Jazz Festival, and Imani Winds Quintet, among others. His octet for members of the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela was commissioned by Carnegie Hall. In 2014, the Banff Centre commissioned Pérez to write Caminode Cruces, a piano quintet for the Cecilia String Quartet, and he also composed the music for the Museum of Biodiversity in Panama, designed by renowned architect Frank Gehry. In 2015, Pérez premiered another two new compositions: Expeditions – Panamania (2015), which premiered at the Panamerican games in Toronto, and Detroit World Suite La Leyenda de Bayano, which premiered at the Detroit Jazz Festival. Pérez returned to the Detroit Jazz Festival in Fall 2019 for the world premiere of a new piece written for his Global Messengers ensemble and co-commissioned by the Detroit Jazz Festival, London Jazz Festival, National Forum of Music Wroclaw, and Koerner Hall at Royal Academy of Music Toronto.

Pérez, who served as Goodwill Ambassador to UNICEF, has received a variety of awards for his musical achievements, activism and social work efforts. He is a recipient of the Doris Duke Artist Award in 2021, the United States Fellowship 2018, and the 2009 Smithsonian Legacy Award. He serves as UNESCO Artist for Peace, Cultural Ambassador to the Republic of Panama, Founder and Artistic Director of the Panama Jazz Festival, and founding artistic director of the Berklee Global Jazz Institute at Berklee College of Music.

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The Office for the Arts at Harvard (OFA) supports student engagement in the arts and integrates the arts into University life. Through its programs and services, the OFA teaches and mentors, fosters student art making, connects students to accomplished artists, commissions new work, and partners with local, national, and international constituencies. By supporting the development of students as artists and cultural stewards, the OFA works to enrich society and shape communities in which the arts are a vital part of life. Information: www.ofa.harvard.edu, ofa@fas.harvard, 617.495.8676.

Crisálida Available Now!

Pianist, composer, humanitarian and activist Danilo Pérez believes that a united global perspective for the arts and social justice are the keys to moving humanity forward in harmony. With Crisálida, Pérez has convened his Global Messengers — several gifted Berklee Global Jazz Institute graduates mentored by Danilo hailing from Palestine, Greece and Jordan — to contribute their respective cultural learnings and personal experiences with the goal of building community through music, without borders.

Click here to purchase your copy of Crisálida today!

New Single!

Friends, I'm so excited to announce my new album, 'Crisálida' out March 18 on Mack Avenue Records.

The first single "Monopatia (Pathways)" is out today! Listen now: lnk.to/dp_mono

I envision 'Crisálida' as a protected space where we all come together, whether we’re addressing immigration issues, climate change, environmental justice, science, interconnecting different art forms. We need to work together to build our new crisálida, which, to me, is the emotional, mental and physical state of protection in our early development.

This album features the "Global Messengers" – a new multicultural ensemble from Berklee Global Jazz Institute, dedicated to the betterment of humanity.

Global Messengers:
Tareq Rantisi | percussion (Palestine)
Vasilis Kostas | laouto (Greece)
Layth Sidiq | violin & vocals (Iraq, Jordan)
Naseem Alatrash | cello (Palestine)
Farayi Malek | vocals (United States)

Special guests:
Roman Diaz | batá drums (Cuba)
Faris Ishaq | Ney flute (Palestine)
Patricia Zarate Perez | spoken word (Chile)
Erini | vocals (Greece)
Kalesma Children’s Choir of The Ark of the World (Kivotos tou Kosmou) (based in Greece)

Artwork
painter Olga Sinclair (Panama)
photographer Tito Herrera (Panama)

Doris Duke Artist Awards 2021

Doris Duke Artist Awards

Seven Artists in Jazz, Dance and Theater Receive Doris Duke Artist Awards of Up to $275,000 Each, Totaling $2.2 Million in Unrestricted Funding for Performing Artists 

New York, Oct. 21, 2021 — The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (DDCF) today announced the 2021 Doris Duke Artists, each receiving an award of $275,000 intended as an investment in their artistic potential and celebration of their ongoing contributions to the fields of contemporary dance, jazz and theater. Signifying the largest national award to individuals in the performing arts, the prize consists of $250,000 in completely unrestricted funding and an additional $25,000 dedicated to encouraging savings for retirement. Rather than being tied to specific projects, these awards are available to recipients to use in the manner they determine will best support their ability to create and thrive. 

Cynthia Oliver and Dormeshia received the award for their enduring contributions to the field of contemporary dance. Kris Davis, Danilo Pérez and Wayne Shorter earned the recognition for their ongoing innovation and impact in the field of jazz. Lileana Blain-Cruz and Teo Castellanos were awarded the honor for their continuing excellence in theater.

“Art is the antidote to crisis. These exemplary artists demonstrate that a time of unprecedented disruption in the arts and across society cannot stifle the power of great art to persevere,” said Sam Gill, president and CEO of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. “We are proud to support these outstanding creators and accelerate their phenomenal contributions to society.” 

“We are thrilled to award this year’s cohort of exceptional artists with this support,” said Maurine Knighton, program director for the arts at the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. “With the knowledge that these performing artists excel in their forms, we recognize that they deserve funding that trusts them to best determine how to invest in their own futures. These awards are intended to enable artists with the freedom to create the way that artists are meant to create: freely, organically and without restrictions.”

Overall, the Doris Duke Artist Awards program has awarded more than $35.4 million in funding to 129 artists since the program began in 2012. Previous Doris Duke Artists have used the funding for a wide expanse of needs -- ranging from creative research, exploration and study, mortgages for personal and professional spaces, travel and/or restoration time, childcare, healthcare costs and creation of a financial safety net, among many other personal and professional uses.

To read more about the Doris Duke Artist Awards and the 2021 Doris Duke Artists, visit www.dorisdukeartistawards.org.

About the Doris Duke Artist Awards
The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation designed the Doris Duke Artist Awards to invest in exemplary individual artists in contemporary dance, jazz and theater work who have demonstrated their artistic vitality and ongoing commitment to their field. The award is not a lifetime achievement award. Rather, it is a deep investment in the creative potential of dedicated artists. The foundation aims to empower Doris Duke Artists through the freedom of unrestricted support to take creative risks, explore new ideas, and pay for important professional and personal needs not typically funded by the project-related grants that dominate arts funding. While the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation initially conceived the Doris Duke Artists Awards as part of a larger $50 million special initiative that finished in 2017, recognition of the program’s importance in helping artists thrive spurred the foundation to cement a place for the flexible awards in its core strategy to support the arts. 

About the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation
The mission of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (DDCF) is to improve the quality of people’s lives through grants supporting the performing arts, environmental conservation, medical research and child well-being, and through preservation of the cultural and environmental legacy of Doris Duke’s properties. The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation focuses its support to the performing arts on contemporary dance, jazz and theater artists, and the organizations that nurture, present and produce them. In 2015, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) awarded the foundation with a 2014 National Medal of Arts, presented by President Barack Obama, in special recognition of DDCF’s support of creative expression across the United States and “bold commitment” to artistic risk, which has helped artists, musicians, dancers and actors share their talents and enriched the cultural life of the nation. For more information, please visit www.ddcf.org.

Panama Jazz Festival Goes Virtual

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Greeting Friends,

Culture makes us solidary, gives us hope and it reminds us that we are not alone. The Panama Jazz Festival unites us and leaves traces. Join for the first virtual edition of the Panama Jazz Festival, from January 11-23, 2021 at panamajazzfestival.com

Únete del 11 al 23 de enero al Panama Jazz Festival 2021 virtual ingresando en panamajazzfestival.com

Insert yourself in a world of music with over 100 events of the Panama Jazz Festival. Explore the workshops, concerts, jam sessions. Along with the IX Latinamerican Music Therapy Symposium, the V Afropanamanian Symposium, the Classical Music Interchange, and the VI Homeschooling Conference.

Panama Jazz Festival events are free except for 2 concerts (Wayne Shorter Quartet and Erika Ender & Danilo Pérez). If you wish to contribute to the programs of the Danilo Pérez Foundation, you can donate voluntarily through the festival website.

PART 5: SFJAZZ WAYNE SHORTER CELEBRATION LIVE STREAM

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This fifth part of our ongoing Wayne Shorter Celebration series features masterful performances by Wayne and his quartet, filmed during his residency in April 2017. Wayne has led a legendary, near-mythic career spanning more than half a century that included monumental memberships in Art Blakey’s star-making Jazz Messengers, Miles Davis’ iconic 1960s quintet, and the fusion superband Weather Report in addition to an incomparable path as a leader.

The NEA Jazz Master, 2015 GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award recipient and 2018 Kennedy Center Honoree is, simply, the music’s most influential living instrumentalist and composer. His longevity as a creative force isn’t as astounding as the fact that he’s spent the past two decades leading his most prodigious and consequential band with pianist Danilo Pérez, bassist John Patitucci, and drummer Brian Blade.

For this Fridays at Five stream, the masterful drummer and SFJAZZ Resident Artistic Director Terri Lyne Carrington replaces Blade, bringing her singular approach to Shorter’s music that she’s cultivated over a three-decade association with him including appearances on his 1988 album Joy Ryder, 1995’s High Life, and 2003’s Alegria.

Click here to watch

PART 4: SFJAZZ WAYNE SHORTER CELEBRATION LIVE STREAM

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Happy birthday Wayne Shorter! In honor of the Maestro’s birthday, SFJAZZ will continue its celebration of Wayne with a stream this Friday, August 28 featuring two modern-day jazz greats and Bay Area natives, saxophonist Joshua Redman and trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, performing with my brothers John Patitucci & Brian Blade, and myself. This is an exclusive one-time-only broadcast of an all-star tribute concert that took place in 2019 at the SFJAZZ Center. Tune in by becoming an SFJAZZ Digital Member, starting at $5 per month at www.sfjazz.org/watch

PART 2: SFJAZZ WAYNE SHORTER CELEBRATION LIVE STREAM

Join me this Friday, June 26, as SFJAZZ continues its four-part celebration of legendary saxophonist Wayne Shorter featuring the world premiere of a 2019 all-star tribute concert at the SFJAZZ Center, this time with Herbie Hancock, Terence Blanchard, Terrace Martin, John Patitucci, Brian Blade, and myself. Tune in by becoming an SFJAZZ Digital Member, starting at $5 per month. All donations during this concert go directly to Maestro Wayne for his ongoing medical needs. Register at sfjazz.org/watch

PART 1: SFJAZZ WAYNE SHORTER CELEBRATION LIVE STREAM

Friends, join me and SFJAZZ in honoring a true Maestro on Friday, May 22 in the first of a four-part celebration of legendary saxophonist Wayne Shorter. You won't want to miss video of the world premiere of an all-star tribute concert at the SFJAZZ Center in 2019, featuring Kamasi Washington, Terrace Martin, John Patitucci, Brian Blade, and myself. Tune in by becoming an SFJAZZ Digital Member, starting at just $5 per month at www.sfjazz.org/watch. All donations during this concert go directly to Wayne Shorter for his ongoing medical needs.

GLIDE MAGAZINE: VOCALIST KURT ELLING TEAMS WITH PIANIST DANILO PÉREZ FOR ‘SECRETS ARE THE BEST STORIES’ (ALBUM REVIEW)

Vocalist Kurt Elling Teams With Pianist Danilo Pérez for 'Secrets Are The Best Stories' (ALBUM REVIEW) - Glide Magazine

Renowned vocalist Kurt Elling collaborates with acclaimed pianist Danilo Pérez and a few other musicians on select tracks for Secrets Tell the Best Stories . Elling adds lyrics to compositions by Wayne Shorter, Jaco Pastorious, visionary composer/arranger Vince Mendoza and Pérez.

JAZZIZ Weekly Discover Playlist: March 2, 2019

JAZZIZ Weekly Discover Playlist: March 2, 2019 - JAZZIZ Magazine

As part of Bird's centennial celebration in 2020, Craft Recordings presents The Savoy 10-Inch LP Collection, a deluxe box set including four 10-inch LPs cut from newly restored and remastered audio. The collection highlights Bird's pioneering bebop recordings for Savoy Records from 1944-1948, featuring jazz legends Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, John Lewis, Bud Powell, Max...

The 21C Music Festival: Giving Wings to the Better Angels of Our Nature

The 21C Music Festival: Giving Wings to the Better Angels of Our Nature - Page 6 of 6 - Toronto Music Report

Danilo Pérez brought with him a very unique group of musicians - the Global Messengers - who comprised erstwhile neophytes from the Berklee Global Jazz Institute, which he founded, and included (in addition to the pianist and musical director, vocalist Farayi Malek, violinist Layth Sidiq, cellist Naseem Alatrash, percussion colourist Tareq Rantisi and Vasilis Kostas, who plays the laouto (an Grecian version of the Middle Eastern "oud" - a kind of instrument evolved - it would seem from its harmonic range and sound - by marrying the tiple and the classical guitar.