Hostos Center For The Arts & Culture Presents Annette A. Aguilar & StringBeans Featuring Ada Rovatti & Randy Brecker

Hostos Center for the Arts & Culture presents "Annette A. Aguilar & StringBeans with Ada Rovatti & Randy Brecker" on Saturday April 2, 2022 at 8:00 p.m. in person and online at the Main Theater of Hostos Community College, 450 Grand Concourse in the Bronx.

Acclaimed percussionist Annette A. Aguilar celebrates her "Women in Latin Jazz Festival" and 30 years of StringBeans - her ten-piece ensemble named for using string instruments. Together with her extraordinary musicians, Aguilar performs an evening of Latin Jazz, Brazilian music and Salsa. Seven-time Grammy Award-winning jazz trumpeter Randy Brecker and his wife, the acclaimed saxophonist Ada Rovatti, join her for an explosive musical experience. These power-house musicians have shaped the sounds of jazz, Latin music, R&B and rock for more than four decades.

Annette A. Aguilar is a percussionist, bandleader, composer, and music educator, best known for her Latin and Brazilian jazz band Annette A. Aguilar & StringBeans. Aguilar has played with Tito Puente, Stevie Wonder, The Four Tops, Jefferson Airplane, and The Grateful Dead and in the Broadway shows Streetcorner Symphony, The Capeman, and the Grammy-winning Smokey Joe's Cafe. As Latin Jazz Ambassadors for the U.S. State Department, Annette A. Aguilar & StringBeans have toured extensively around the world in addition to releasing three albums and playing at the Kennedy Center, Jazz at Lincoln Center, among other important American jazz venues.

Randy Brecker: Jazz trumpeter and composer Randy Brecker has helped shape the sound of jazz, R&B and rock for more than four decades. His trumpet and flugelhorn performances have graced hundreds of albums by a wide range of artists from James Taylor, Bruce Springsteen and Parliament/Funkadelic to Frank Sinatra, Steely Dan, Jaco Pastorius and Frank Zappa. Born in 1945 in Philadelphia to a musical family, Randy's musical talent was nurtured from an early age. He has performed with Blood, Sweat and Tears, Horace Silver Quintet, Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, with his brothers in the Brecker Brothers Band, as well as a solo artist - winning seven Grammy Awards as well as numerous nominations along the way. As a composer, performer and in-demand Yamaha clinician, Randy Brecker continues to influence and inspire young musicians around the world.

Ada Rovatti: Italian native Ada Rovatti started playing saxophone in high school after years of classical piano training. She studied at the Berklee College of Music in Italy and has performed in important festivals such as JVC in NYC Rochester Jazz Festival, IAJE, Detroit Jazz Fest, Montreal Jazz Fest, San Francisco Jazz Fest, NorthSea Jazz Fest. She released this past year her new recording co-leading with Randy Brecker "Brecker Plays Rovatti: Sacred Bond" and received outstanding reviews and radio airplay entering the top 10 chart. She is married to jazz trumpeter Randy Brecker.

StringBeans: Celebrating 30 years, StringBeans was formed by Annette A. Aguilar in 1992 to perform Latin and Brazilian jazz. The ten-piece band is named for its use of string instruments, including violin and harp. They became popular in New York's Lower East Side and East Village and have released three albums. Annette A. Aguilar & StringBeans have played at the Kennedy Center, Jazz at Lincoln Center, and many other venues in the U.S. and abroad. They have been selected three times as Latin Jazz Ambassadors by the U.S. State Department as part of its "Rhythm Road" cultural exchange program, traveling to South Africa, Rwanda, Swaziland, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zanzibar, and Madagascar. Annette A. Aguilar & StringBeans are: Annette A. Aguilar, band leader and percussion, Karen Joseph on flute, Nicki Denner on piano, Jennifer Vincent on cello and bass, Laura Dreyer on saxophone, Sofia Tosello on vocals, Eddie Venegas on trombone & violin, Rubén Rodríguez on bass, Renato Thoms on percussion, and Benny Koonyesvky, drums