Jazz pianist César Orozco and Kamarata Jazz will play Cuban and Venezuelan influenced Jazz for Jazz Appreciation Month at The Mainstay in Rock Hall, MD on Saturday April 29, 2017 at 8:00 p.m. Admission is $20 in advance and $23 at the door. Information and advance ticket sales are available at the Mainstay’s website https://www.mainstayrockhall.org. Reservations to pay at the door can be made by calling 410-639-9133.
César Orozco is a prolific Jazz pianist, violinist, composer, arranger, producer, and educator originally from Cuba, who spent his young adulthood in Venezuela and now lives in the New York City area. His music mixes Venezuelan and Cuban traditional influences with American Jazz, Bossa Nova and other Latin genres such as flamenco and tango.
In 2012, Orozco moved to the United States after receiving a full tuition Assistantship from The Peabody Institute of John Hopkins University, where he earned a Graduate Performance Diploma (GPD) in Jazz Piano. He also holds a degree in violin and ensemble conducting from the National School of Arts in Havana, Cuba. He is a Cubadisco Award winner (the equivalent of our Grammy Award) and wrote a hit musical while living in Venezuela.
Orozco created Kamarata Jazz in Venezuela back in 2006. The group was originally conceived as a quintet: piano, electric bass, drums, percussion and Venezuelan cuatro, a stringed instrument. Currently, they perform as a quintet but use a saxophone instead of the cuatro. The group features César Orozco on piano, Gabriel Vivas on bass, Pablo Bencid on drums, Fran Vielma on percussion, and Antonio Orta on saxophone.
Kamarata Jazz mixes Venezuelan and Cuban traditional music with Jazz plus other genres such as flamenco, tango, and Bossa Nova. The core of the repertoire is based on Orozco’s original compositions and innovative versions of Venezuelan and Cuban pieces from the traditional repertoire.
Since arriving in the States, Orozco has become a much in-demand pianist in both Jazz and Latin-American music. He has performed with Latin jazz legends such as Paquito D’Rivera, who calls Orozco’s music, “the best combination of Cuban, Jazz and Venezuelan music I ever heard.”
Orozco has toured extensively throughout the U.S., Europe, Latin America and Australia as a headliner at venues such Blues Alley, Twins Jazz, and the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, Bolivar Hall in London, the Bird’s Basement Jazz Club in Melbourne, Australia, the Bimhuis Jazz Club in Amsterdam and Subrosa, The Zinc Bar, and the Fat Cat in New York City. He has participated in music festivals around the world including the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland, the Cervantino Festival in Mexico and the Jazz al Parque in Bogota, Colombia.
His latest recording “No Limits For Tumbao” on Alfi Records, has been praised by jazz critics and generated extensive radio airplay throughout the United States.
The Mainstay (Home of Musical Magic) is the friendly informal storefront performing arts center on Rock Hall’s old time Main Street. It is a 501(c)(3), nonprofit dedicated to the arts, serving Rock Hall, MD and the surrounding region. It is committed to presenting local, regional and national level talent, at a reasonable price, in an almost perfect acoustic setting. Wine, beer, sodas and snacks are available at the bar.
The Mainstay is supported by ticket sales, fundraising including donations from friends and audience members and an operating grant from the Maryland State Arts Council.
The Mainstay sells advance tickets online through Instant Seats. Information and advance ticket sales are available on the Mainstay’s website
Paula Phillips says
What a great article. Thank you so much!