'Still A Lot Of Love': Arturo O'Farrill On Cuba-U.S. Artistic Relations
Pianist, composer and bandleader Arturo O'Farrill was born into Afro Cuban jazz royalty but growing up he rejected his famous musical heritage. Now, he travels the world sharing his late father Chico O'Farrill's legacy as a principal architect of the mash up of jazz and Afro Cuban music in the late 1940's.
O'Farrill's Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra is an extension of his father's long running NYC-based orchestra and it was chosen to close out Artes De Cuba: From the Island to the World, the historic, two-week long multi genre arts festival at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
In signature fashion, he opened the concert with a gorgeous free-style piano improvisation to "put himself on a high-wire."As O'Farrill explains, it's his way of journeying into the unknown on equal footing with the audience. What flowed from the maestro's
