GREAT JAZZ ON THE GREAT HILL RETURNS TO CENTRAL PARK
Central Park Conservancy and Jazzmobile Partner for an Afternoon of Jazz
Performers will include Harlem Renaissance Orchestra, a swing band that’s played everywhere from Dinosaur BBQ to Lincoln Center, and the innovative Bobby Sanabria Big Band, whose album Multiverse was nominated for two Grammy Awards, Best Latin Jazz Recording and Best Instrumental Arrangement.
Food truck vendors Van Leeuwen Ice Cream Truck, and Calexico Cal-Mex Cart will be onsite. Family activities will include the creation of a unique eco-postcard inspired by musical jazz instruments in a hands-on workshop for families, along with lawn games.
WHO: The Harlem Renaissance Orchestra (swing band that has performed everywhere from Dinosaur BBQ and Lincoln Center)
The Bobby Sanabria Big Band (album Multiverse was nominated for two Grammy Awards, Best Latin Jazz Recording and Best Instrumental Arrangement)
WHEN: Sat., August 10
Family activities and performances from 3:00 pm – 6:00 pm
WHERE: Great Hill, Central Park. Enter the Park at 106th Street (Duke Ellington Boulevard) and Central Park West and walk up the stairs or ramp to the Great Hill. The event will be cancelled in case of inclement weather.
MEDIA: For day-of filming requests and questions, please contact Dena Libner of the Central Park Conservancy at dlibner@centralparknyc.org or 212.610.6638.
About the Central Park Conservancy: The mission of the Central Park Conservancy is to restore, manage and enhance Central Park in partnership with the public, for the enjoyment of present and future generations. A private, not-for-profit organization founded in 1980, the Conservancy provides 85 percent of Central Park's $41.5 million park-wide expense budget and is responsible for all basic care of the Park. For more information on the Conservancy, please visit centralparknyc.org.
About Jazzmobile, Inc: Jazzmobile, Inc., the oldest not-for-profit arts organization created just for jazz in the country, was founded in 1964 by jazz master Dr. Billy Taylor and Daphne Arnstein. Its mission is to present, preserve, promote, and propagate jazz – “America’s classical music.” This mission is implemented through quality jazz education and performance programs: workshops, master classes, lecture demonstrations, as well as out-of-doors mobile Jazz performances and in clubs and special concerts in major concert halls. Jazzmobile, www.jazzmobile.org, reaches approximately 50,000 people in New York City and its outlying areas each year. Visit us to learn how you can “Keep the Music Playing!”
Harlem Renaissance Orchestra
Ron Allen, Conductor
The name Harlem Renaissance Orchestra was chosen because it is the residence and birth place of several of our members. The word renaissance means rebirth or revival and our mission is to revive the music of the Big Band Era and to preserve this music in its living form by giving recognition to some of its leading figures: Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Pops Louie Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Lucky Millinder, Earl Fatha Hines, Billy Eckstine, Lionel Hampton and many others. The Orchestra's goal is to reestablish Harlem as the Big Band Mecca of the world.
Over the past two decades, HRO has performed in some of the most prestigious Concert Halls, Jazz Festivals and in many other events. Including Lincoln Center/Mid-Summer Night Swing,Town Hall, The Apollo Theater, Cape May Jazz Festival, JVC Jazz Festival, The Philadelphia Arts Center,The Westchester Jazz Festival, The infamous Copacabana, Great Jazz on the Great Hill presented by Jazz Mobile Inc.,Plaza Hotel and the Rainbow Room. We have also appeared in various films and videos including, an HBO Special on the life of Swing Dance innovator Frankie Manning. We did a music special on the Discovery Channel entitled,"Drop Me Off In Harlem," that was also shown on channel Thirteen PBS(WNET). One of our performances was video taped on WDR/ARD (Germany) Good Life T.V., and we were filmed by Fuji Television Network Inc. (Japan). HRO has been recogized and featured in a plethors of publications and media for our contributions to the arts. The following is a sample of various media who have commended the HRO: United Nations Jazz Society Publication, the Amsterdam News, New Beginnings Magazine, the NY Daily News, Swing Live Magazine, the NY Times, the New York Press and the Village Voice. HRO is dedicated to keeping the spirit of Big Band Swing Music alive and thriving. Whether in a live performance or educating the next generation of musicians, we will remain a guardian and proponent of a great musical tradition.
BOBBY SANABRIA
For a Complete Bio and electronic Press Kit go to:
www.bobbysanabria.com
"Bobby Sanabria is equally adept at the swinging big band sounds of drummers Buddy Rich and Louis Bellson along with another boyhood hero, fusion pioneer Billy Cobham and timbale titan Tito Puente."
- Bill Milkowski, Jazz Times
BOBBY SANABRIA – A drummer, percussionist, composer, arranger, recording artist, producer, filmmaker, conductor, educator, activist, multi-cultural warrior and multiple Grammy nominee - has performed with a veritable Who's Who in the world of jazz and Latin music, as well as with his own critically acclaimed ensembles. His diverse recording and performing experience includes work with such legendary figures as Dizzy Gillespie, Tito Puente, Paquito D'Rivera, Charles McPherson, Mongo Santamaría, Ray Barretto, Marco Rizo, Arturo Sandoval, Roswell Rudd, Chico O'Farrill, Candido, Yomo Toro, Francisco Aguabella, Larry Harlow, Henry Threadgill, and the Godfather of Afro-Cuban Jazz, Mario Bauzá. A New York native (born in the South Bronx) Bobby is the son of Puerto Rican Parents.
Attending, Boston's Berklee College of Music from 1975 to 1979, he earned a Bachelor of Music degree and received their prestigious Faculty Association Award for his work as an instrumentalist. Bobby went on to become a leader in the Afro-Cuban, Brazilian, and jazz fields as both a drummer and percussionist, and is recognized as one of the most articulate musician-scholars of la tradición living today.
Mr. Sanabria has written numerous articles in nationally read publications including NY Latino, Highlights In Percussion, Modern Drummer, the Descarga Newsletter, Allegro, TRAPS and Downbeat and has written liner notes for over 30 CD's. He has been featured as a subject in DRUM!, The Beat, RHYTHM - World Music & Culture, Drums On the Web, Modern Drummer, Descarga, The NY Post, The NY Daily News, The NY Times, Jazz Times, Jazziz, Jazz Improv, All About Jazz.com, and a major six page feature piece on him in the July, 2007 issue of Downbeat magazine.