FREE Bronx Piano Sundays are back with Pete Rodríguez Trio featuring Pete Rodríguez on trumpet/vocals, Luques Curtis on bass, and Luis Perdomo on piano.
Trumpeter, vocalist, and percussionist Pete Rodríguez carries the bloodline of Nuyorican salsa. Son of renowned salsero Pete “El Conde” Rodríguez, and godson of Fania bandleader Johnny Pacheco, he and his trio will play a formidable program including selections from from his Destiny Records debut release, Caminando con Papi, where he takes stock of an incredible musical legacy!
Sunday, November 23 @ 3pm
FREE!
Limited seats. Please RSVP by calling us at
718-585-1202
[tab: ABOUT THE ARTISTS]
Trumpeter, vocalist, and percussionist PETE RODRÍGUEZ carries the bloodline of Nuyorican salsa as he takes the tradition of Afro-Cuban jazz to new places. The son of renowned salsero Pete “El Conde” Rodríguez and godson of Fania Records bandleader Johnny Pacheco, the younger Rodríguez cut his teeth backing up some of the greatest names in Latin music. He became his father’s musical director at the age of 19. Coached by pianist Oscar Hernandez, the former director for “El Conde” and Ruben Blades, Rodríguez was playing trumpet, singing coro, playing maracas and giving cues to the band. As a vocalist, he sang on Tito Puente’s Grammy-award winning Mambo Birdland. As an instrumentalist, he’s appeared with legends including Celia Cruz, Eddie Palmieri, Chico O’Farrill and Bebo Valdez. Now, as a bandleader, Rodríguez is drawing on these experiences to take his brand of Afro-Cuban jazz in exciting new directions. Rodríguez’s music comes from a deeply personal place, reflecting on his connections to his father and heritage, as well as other unexpected influences. Rodríguez lived through the birth of Hip Hop during his early childhood in Bronx, New York. As a sharp contrast, after moving to Puerto Rico, he focused on classical music, performing trumpet with the Symphony of Puerto Rico at the young age of 15. While in the United States Army, he discovered his love for jazz and made it the focus of his professional and educational pursuits after leaving the military. The diversity of these life experiences can be heard both in Rodríguez’s compositions and playing style. While pursuing his musical career, Rodríguez has also always made time for prioritizing education. He holds his bachelor and master of music degrees in jazz from Rutgers University. He obtained his doctorate of musical arts from the University of Texas at Austin in 2007. His full-length releases are “Mind Trip” (2006), “El Alquimista” (2008), and, on Destiny Records, “Caminando con Papi” (2013).
LUQUES CURTIS was born August 17,1983 in Hartford, CT. After having formal training on piano and percussion, he found himself wanting to play the bass. Luques studied at the Greater Hartford Academy of Performing Arts, Artist Collective, and Guakia with Dave Santoro, Volcan Orham, Nat Reeves, Paul Brown, and others. After high school, he planned to pursue his music career by going to college in Boston. With his talent and hard work he earned a full scholarship to the prestigious Berklee College Of Music. There he studied with John Lockwood and Ron Mahdi. While in Boston, he was also able to work with great musicians such as Gary Burton, Ralph Peterson, Donald Harrison, Christian Scott, and Francisco Mela. Luques was also working with his brother Zaccai, and formed a group called Insight. Now living in New York City Luques has been performing nationally and internationally with artists such as, Eddie Palmieri, Brian Lynch, Ralph Peterson, Christian Scott, Sean Jones, Gary Burton, Stefon Harris, Donald Harrison, Etienne Charles, Albert Rivera, Elio Villafranca, Francisco Mela, and others. He has recently released an album with his brother called “Blood, Spirit, Land, Water, Freedom” on Truth Revolution Records. Luques was also part of Brian Lynch’s Grammy winning CD “Simpatico”. You can hear him on Gary Burton’s CD “Next Generations”; Dave Valentin’s “Come Fly With Me”; Sean Jones’ “Roots”, “Kaleidoscope”, and “The Search Within”; Christian Scott’s CD “Rewind That” and “Anthem”; Albert Rivera’s CD “Re-Introduction”; Etienne Charles’ CD “Folklore”.
LUIS PERDOMO grew up in a home filled with music. Born in Caracas, Venezuela in 1971, Luis was exposed to just about every style of music by his father, an avid music fan and collector. Alongside salsa, Latin, R & B, and classical, the young Perdomo heard jazz greats like Bud Powell and Oscar Peterson, two of his earliest and most important musical influences. Drawn to jazz and to the piano at an early age, Luis was making regular professional appearances on Venezuelan TV and radio by the time he was twelve. It was about this same time that Luis started to think more and more about the possibility of pursuing a life in music. The more he began to listen and to read about jazz—his tastes had expanded to include players like Cecil Taylor and John Coltrane—the more he became aware of one undeniable truth. All his favorite artists lived and/or recorded in New York City. Thus, it was only a matter of time before he too would make that move. As a longstanding member of groups led by Miguel Zenón and Ravi Coltrane, Luis has made his mark as a performer, a composer and arranger. He can be heard most recently on both Grammy nominated Ravi Coltrane’s “Blending Times” and Miguel Zenón’s “Alma Adentro: The Puerto Rican Songbook”. He has released six highly praised recordings as a leader: Three on Ravi Coltrane’s RKM Music label: “Focus Point” (2005), “Awareness” (2006), and the highly acclaimed “Universal Mind” (2012), featuring Drew Gress and Jack Dejohnette; and three on Criss Cross Jazz: “Pathways” (2008), “The Infancia Project” (2012), and “Links” (2013).