Arturo O'Farrill

Artist ∙ Jazz

Arturo O'Farrill is a New York-based jazz pianist, composer, and arranger, and he's the leader of the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra. The son of big-band leader Chico O'Farrill, Arturo served with the Carla Bley Band, Dizzy Gillespie, Steve Turre, and Lester Bowie before leading the Chico O'Farrill Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra. In 2008, his orchestra issued the Grammy Award-winning studio album Song for Chico. 2014's Final Night at Birdland and 2015's The Offense of the Drum also won Grammys. Recorded in Havana, 2015's Cuba: The Conversation Continues was nominated for a Grammy. The Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra returned with Fandango at the Wall in 2018, followed by Four Questions in 2020 and Dreaming in Lions in 2021, on Blue Note. In 2022, O'Farrill issued The Centennial Suites, and followed with an uncharacteristic piano trio/solo outing titled Legacies, his Blue Note solo debut, in 2023.

August 20, 2015 at PDT
Cuba: The Conversation Continues
13 Tracks
April 27, 2023 at PDT
Legacies
9 Tracks
May 5, 2014 at PDT
The Offense of the Drum
Arturo O’Farrill’s The Offense of the Drum surges with harmonic and rhythmic energy from the get-go. The pianist/composer and his big band, The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, are joined by various guest artists on this expansive album, where Offense has room for Japanese drums, accordion, djembe, and harp. “Cuarto de Colores” weaves together Cuban, Brazilian, and Colombian rhythms and features the excellent Colombian harpist Edmar Castaneda, who spins out dazzling runs backed by a horn arrangement that’s by turns muscular and smooth. The spoken word of Christopher “Chilo” Cajigas is spotlighted on “They Came,” a proud take on Puerto Rican history and migration to the United States. It’s a powerhouse piece that integrates words and music at an extraordinarily high level. (The track, written and conducted by Jason Lindner, includes DJ Logic on turntables.) Pianist Vijay Iyer wrote and played on “The Mad Hatter,” a composition full of tricky lines and rhythms. The two-movement title cut takes listeners on a journey. Artful rigidity morphs into a grand layered flow over the course of this impressive work.
10 Tracks
September 14, 2017 at PDT
Familia: Tribute to Bebo & Chico
Pianists Arturo O’Farrill and Chucho Valdés, sons of iconic Cuban musicians Chico O’Farrill and Bebo Valdés, gather under one roof and bring their formidable talents to bear on Familia: Tribute to Bebo & Chico. Half the program features O’Farrill’s august working ensemble, The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra; the rest belongs to the more streamlined Third Generations Ensemble, cooking on modernist, complex material such as “Gonki Gonki.” Not just sons but grandsons also appear: Trumpeter Adam O’Farrill and drummers Zack O’Farrill and Jessie Valdés make sparks fly.
13 Tracks
September 27, 2018 at PDT
Fandango at the Wall: A Soundtrack for the United States, Mexico and Beyond
33 Tracks
April 9, 2020 at PDT
Four Questions
8 Tracks
September 23, 2021 at PDT
…dreaming in lions… (feat. The Afro Latin Jazz Ensemble)
Pianist and composer Arturo O’Farrill scales back to a smaller version of his Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra—a 10-piece unit he calls the Afro Latin Jazz Ensemble—for this program of two back-to-back extended suites. O’Farrill wrote both as commissions for the Cuban Malpaso Dance Company, so imagining the choreography in the mind’s eye as one listens to these vibrant, expansive Afro-Cuban jazz works can add to the experience. “Despedida” is O’Farrill’s reflection on farewells, while the longer “Dreaming in Lions” takes inspiration from Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea—apropos given the novelist’s many years as a Cuban resident.

Joined by his sons Adam and Zack O’Farrill (on trumpet and drums, respectively), the leader gets a big surging sound even with the smaller group, employing three multi-percussionists as well as Rafi Malkiel on euphonium and trombone, Alejandro Aviles cutting through the mix on flute and saxophones, Jose “Bam Bam” Rodriguez Platiau holding it down on bass, and Travis Reuter bringing elegance and grit on nylon-string and electric guitars. O’Farrill is virtuosic and expressive on acoustic piano, and his silken, modern electric playing varies the band texture in many spots (“Ensayo Silencio,” “How I Love,” “The Deep,” “Struggles and Strugglets”).
14 Tracks
September 28, 2022 at PDT
Fandango at the Wall in New York (feat. Conga Patria Son Jarocho Collective & Conga Patria Collective)
10 Tracks
May 9, 2005 at PDT
Live In Brooklyn
7 Tracks
January 14, 2011 at PST
40 Acres and a Burro
11 Tracks
April 8, 2021 at PDT
Virtual Birdland
10 Tracks
September 30, 2009 at PDT
Risa Negra
10 Tracks
September 13, 2023 at PDT
Fandango at the Wall (feat. Conga Patria Son Jarocho Collective) [Immersive Edition]
10 Tracks
June 28, 2012 at PDT
The Noguchi Sessions
12 Tracks
June 30, 1999 at PDT
Blood Lines
10 Tracks
July 19, 2010 at PDT
The Auction Project
10 Tracks
August 10, 2023 at PDT
Santiago Brooklyn Santiago (feat. Marcos Fernandez & Arturo O'Farrill)
12 Tracks
November 30, 2023 at PST
Mending Wall
9 Tracks
June 27, 2024 at PDT
Spiritual Sin Egoísmo - Single
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May 13, 2021 at PDT
Shimmer Linger - Single
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April 22, 2021 at PDT
Resolution - Single
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April 8, 2021 at PDT
Longing For - Single
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March 25, 2021 at PDT
Light Canyons - Single
1 Trackfalse
March 11, 2021 at PST
Float Upwards - Single
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March 14, 2021 at PDT
Isla of Man - Single
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Arturo O'Farrill

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