Glem & Orozco Duo

Saturday, March 7, 8PM – “STRINGWISE” JORGE GLEM & CESAR OROZCO DUO (Traditional Venezuelan Cuatro & Piano) – Virtuoso Venezuelan cuatro player Jorge Glem, joins forces with Cuban/Venezuelan pianist, composer and arranger César Orozco, in this concert featuring the music from their first album as a duo entitled “Stringwise”. Recorded in NYC, the album mixes the rhythmic richness and energy of traditional Latin American genres such as Venezuelan joropo, merengue, and Cuban son with a repertoire of worldwide renowned masterpieces from pop and jazz.

Stringwise is the first album recorded only with a Venezuelan cuatro and piano. This particular instrumentation, along with the constant presence of jazz elements, such as improvisation, creates a homogeneous and coherent sound despite the varied mixture of songs and genres involved in the recording. The end result is a fascinating journey full of rhythms, melodies and harmonies that listeners will enjoy through 7 covers, one piece of Venezuelan folklore, and 3 original songs, all produced and arranged by both Glem and Orozco

According to Cuban legendary saxophonist and clarinetist Paquito D’Rivera, “César Orozco manages to make the best combination between Cuban, Jazz and Venezuelan music I ever heard”. Orozco, who was born and raised in Cuba, moved to Venezuela in 1998, where he developed an important and prolific career as a pianist, arranger, composer and producer. After 14 years, Orozco moved to the United States in 2012 and enrolled, with a full tuition Assistantship, to The Peabody Institute of John Hopkins University in Baltimore, where he earned a Graduate Performance Diploma (GPD) in Jazz Piano. Since relocating to the New York tri-state area in 2015, Mr. Orozco has become an in-demand pianist. Some of the artists he has worked with include Paquito D’Rivera, Pedrito Martinez, Gary Thomas, Yosvany Terry, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Luis Enrique, Itai Kriss, Troy Roberts, Paul Bollenback, and Giovanni Hidalgo just to name a few.

Jorge Glem, who is also a mandolin player, composer and producer, is probably the greatest living master of the infectiously rhythmic four-string Venezuelan cuatro. Hailing from Cumaná, Venezuela, Glem, who currently resides in New York City, has set out with a clear and driven purpose of presenting the Venezuelan cuatro as a universal instrument. His amazing talent and purpose have allowed him to share the stage with renown worldwide figures such as Paquito D’Rivera, Jordan Rudess, Rubén Blades, Carlos Vives, Calle 13, Natalia Lafoucarde, Guaco, Desorden Público, Ensamble Gurrufío, Gualberto Ibarreto, Etienne Charles and many other important music personalities allowing him to fuse the sound of this traditional instrument in genres such as jazz, salsa, bluegrass, rock, and pop. Glem is without a doubt one of Venezuela’s musical treasures. “Glem’s performance at Lincoln Center, reaffirmed his status as one of the most individualistically talented players in any style of music around the world” – New York Music Daily.