Northrop Music Presents Danilo Perez: 21st Century Dizzy 4/10

Northrop Music at the University of Minnesota presents Grammy® nominated Panamanian jazz pianist Danilo Perez, as he joins together some of the brightest lights of the current modern jazz scene to pay tribute to the jazz legend. This inspiring jazz collective will perform new arrangements of classic Gillespie works, in addition to original group compositions.

As the youngest member of the last edition of Dizzy Gillespie's United Nation Orchestra, Perez learned first-hand how Gillespie embraced musical and personal collaborations throughout the world. Dizzy's bands were a constant melting pot of styles, genres, and pan-global collaborations. Danilo's hand-picked all-stars, with roots in Afro-Cuban, be-bop, Indian, African, and Middle Eastern music among other genres, will more than honor Dizzy's legendary vision.

The group will perform new original compositions and a selection of the following Dizzy Gillespie classics: Manteca, Salt Peanuts, Con Alma, Woody'n You, Things to Come, Emanon, Cubana Be Cubana Bop, and San Sebastian.

Danilo Perez | Piano
Panamanian pianist and composer Danilo Perez has led his own groups since the early '90s, and as bandleader has earned three Grammy® nominations. In just over a decade, his distinctive blend of Pan-American jazz covering the music of the Americas, folkloric and world music has attracted critical acclaim and loyal audiences. Whether leading his own ensembles or touring with renowned jazz masters such as Wayne Shorter and Roy Haynes, Perez is making a decidedly fresh imprint on contemporary music.

Born in Panama in 1965, Perez started his musical studies at just three years of age 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, he moved to the United States to enroll at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and, after changing his major to music, transferred to the prestigious Berklee College of Music. Since the late '80s, he has toured and/or recorded with Wayne Shorter, Steve Lacy, Jack DeJohnette, Charlie Haden, Michael Brecker, and Joe Lovano, among many others.

Currently, Perez serves as the Ambassador of Goodwill for Unicef, Cultural Ambassador of his native country of Panama, President and Founder of the Panama Jazz Festival, Artistic Advisor of the innovative Mellon Jazz Up Close series at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, and is the newly appointed Artistic Director of the Berklee Global Jazz Institute (BGJI), a unique center at the Berklee College of Music designed to foster creativity and musicianship through various musical disciplines. Perez' latest release is Across the Crystal See (Decca).

David Sánchez | Tenor Saxophone
Born in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, Sánchez began playing percussion and drums at age 8 before migrating to tenor saxophone four years later. While a student in San Juan, he also took up soprano and alto saxophones as well as flute and clarinet. In 1986 Sánchez enrolled at the Universidad de Puerto Rico in Rio Píedras, but the pull of New York was irresistible. By 1988 he had auditioned for and won a music scholarship at Rutgers University in New Jersey. Being so close to New York City, Sánchez quickly became a member of its swirling jazz scene. Some of his first New York gigs were with piano giant Eddie Palmieri, Hilton Ruiz, and trumpeter Claudio Roditi who brought Sánchez to the attention of Jazz legend Dizzy Gillespie.

In 1991, Gillespie invited the young saxophonist to join his "Live the Future" tour with Miriam Makeba. Sánchez has also performed and recorded with Kenny Barron, Roy Haynes, Charlie Haden, Tom Harrell and had the opportunity to perform with the legendary drummer Elvin Jones. Whether with Gillespie, Palmieri, Haden, his other jazz mentors, or under his own name, Sánchez has continued to tour extensively, bringing his mix of mainstream jazz with Afro-Latin influences to audiences around the globe.

Additionally, Sánchez's passion for teaching has led him to conduct clinics with students around the world. David Sánchez has been nominated for 4 Grammy® Awards, and his album, Coral, won the Latin Grammy® for Best Instrumental Album in 2005. Sanchez' latest release Cultural Survival (Concord), was released in 2008.

Amir ElSaffar | Trumpet
Winner of the 2001 Carmine Caruso International Jazz Trumpet competition, Iraqi-American trumpeter ElSaffar put his New York career on hold in 2002 to immerse himself in the music of his father's ancestral past, the Iraqu maqam. Traveling throughout the Middle East and Europe to study with masters of the centuries-old oral traditional form, ElSaffar mastered maqam and learned to sing and play the santoor (Iraqi hammered dulcimer). ElSaffar now leads his own own group, Safaafir, the only American group performing Iraqi Maqam. He has created new techniques that enable microtones and ornaments not typically heard from the trumpet but which are characteristic of Arabic music.

ElSaffar has collaborated with an array of artists, including Rudresh Mahanthappa, Vijay Iyer, Cecil Taylor, and Daniel Barenboim, and was commissioned to compose Two Rivers, a suite that invokes Iraqi musical traditions framed in a modern jazz setting. The recorded version of Two Rivers (Pi Recordings) was released in 2007, and was performed with a 17-piece ensemble at the 2008 Made In Chicago Festival and at New York's Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival in 2009. ElSaffar has also composed for theater projects and film soundtracks, and appeared in Jonathan Demme's film, Rachel Getting Married.

Rudresh Mahanthappa | Alto Saxophone
Saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa has achieved international recognition performing regularly at jazz festivals and clubs worldwide. As a composer, he has received commission grants from the Rockefeller Foundation MAP Fund, American Composers Forum, Chamber Music America, and the New York State Council on the Arts to develop new work.

Mahanthappa is also a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellow. He holds a Bachelors of Music Degree in jazz performance from Berklee College of Music and a Masters of Music degree in jazz composition from Chicago's DePaul University. Mahanthappa is a Guggenheim fellow and a 2009 Downbeat International Critics Poll Winner ("Rising Star-Jazz Artist" and "Rising Star-Alto Saxophone").

He has managed to incorporate the culture of his Indian ancestry and fuse myriad musical influences to create a truly groundbreaking artistic vision. As a performer, he leads or co-leads seven different groups. His release, Kinsmen (Pi Recordings), was named one of the Top Jazz CDs of 2008 by various publications. Mahanthappa currently lives in New York and teaches at the New School University.

Jamey Haddad | Percussion
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, world music and jazz percussionist Jamey Haddad specializes in hand drums of a wide variety. At the age of four, he started playing Lebanese percussion instruments, including the goblet drum. Haddad studied at Boston's Berklee School of Music, where he now serves as an associate professor. He also has taught at the New England Conservatory, Oberlin Conservatory, and the Cleveland Institute of Music. Recent tours include the Paul Winter consort tour of Japan and the Fez Festival of World Sacred Music. Haddad has collaborated with a host of renowned musicians, including Yo Yo Ma, Joe Lovano, Esperanza Spalding, Dave Liebman, and Dawn Upshaw, and has been a member of Paul Simon's band for nine years. He is the recipient of three National Endowments for the Arts Performance Grants and a Fullbright Fellowship, which provided for his study of the kanjira and other drums in South India for one year. Haddad can be heard as a sideman on more than 170 different recordings.

Ben Street | Bass
New York City based jazz bassist Ben Street studied at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston with former Weather Report bassist Miroslav Vitous. Street moved to New York City in 1991, and has performed and toured with Danilo Perez, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Roswell Rudd, Paul Motian, Lee Konitz, David Sanchez, James Moody, Sam Rivers, Jimmy Scott, the Frank Carlberg Quintet, and Once Blue, among others. Street's work in avant garde and free jazz during the '90s included performing and recording with Tim Berne, and in a variety of line ups with drummer Kenny Wolleson. His bass playing is featured on many recordings, including Kurt Rosenwinkel's Next Step, Sam River's Violet Violets, Danilo Perez' Til Then, David Sanchez' Coral, and Cyndi Lauper's At Last. Street is the son of saxophonist and mouthpiece maker Bill Street.

Adam Cruz | Drums
Born in New York City in 1970, Adam Cruz is a drummer and composer best known for his work with Danilo Perez, StEve Wilson, David Sanchez, and Edward Simon. Throughout the 90s Cruz worked extensively with saxophonist David Sanchez and the Mingus Big Band. He toured briefly with Chick Corea, recording Origin - A Week at the Blue Note (Stretch), and spent the end of the decade touring in a duo setting with guitarist Charlie Hunter. In recent years Cruz has forged a steady musical relationship with pianist Danilo Perez as a member of the Danilo Perez Trio, which also features bassist Ben Street. His teachers have included his father (percussionist Ray Cruz), Frank Malabe, Keith Copeland, and Kenny Washington. Cruz has also worked at various times with artists such as Tom Harrell, Chris Potter, Pharaoh Sanders, and Paquito D'Rivera. He is featured on over 40 recordings as a sideman, the latest being 2008's David Sanchez' Cultural Survival (Concord).