May 13. 2003 Millennium Stage

Annette A. Aguilar, percussionist and bandleader, was born in San Francisco, California into a family from Nicaragua. She began playing music at the age of 11 and drum lessons at 13 in San Francisco's Noe Valley and Mission District, where Santana developed the “West Coast Latin Beat.” As a budding artist, she was influenced by the boleros and tangos she heard on the radio as well as by Jimi Hendrix, Jefferson Airplane and The Grateful Dead. When she was 16-years-old she was sitting in and performing with renowned Latin artists Chepito Areas, Cal Tjader and Pete and Sheila Escovedo (Sheila E). She studied Afro-Cuban percussion with Marcus Gordon and learned Brazilian percussion performing with the Afro-Brazilian group Batucaje. After graduating from San Francisco State University with a degree in classical music/orchestral percussion she earned her Masters in Music from the Manhattan School. She also studied privately with Jerry Gonzalez and Afro-Cuban music with Luis Bauzo and Johnny Almendra at Harbor Performing Arts School in East Harlem. The multitude of percussion instruments in her arsenal include congas, hand drums, percussion instruments, marimbas, drum kit, and timpani. Ms. Aguilar has recorded for mainstream and independent record companies and television broadcasts and has toured extensively with well-known Latin, reggae, classical, pop and jazz artists. She has shared the stage and performed with Stevie Wonder, Darlene Love, Tito Puente, Jefferson Airplane, The Grateful Dead, Jimmy Cliff, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Suzanne Vega, Shawn Colvin, and Toshi Reagon. For 10 years she toured with the contemporary reggae group Casselberry-Dupree, whose album City Down with Ms. Aguilar's percussion, won the 1986 NAIRD award for Best Independent Reggae Album. She appeared at the 1987 Sisterfire Festival in Washington, D.C., and has worked with Flamenco dancers and ballet companies, toured with opera companies, and played with several orchestras in the New York area where she is currently the typanist with the Bronx Symphony Orchestra. Her Broadway and tour credits include the Grammy-winning Smokey Joe's Café, Streetcorner Symphony; Paul Simon's The Capeman; the Lincoln Center workshop and Broadway production of Chronicle of a Death Foretold and the hit musical Once On This Island. In 1992, she formed her Latin Brazilian jazz group Annette A. Aguilar & StringBeans, releasing its first CD, Special Friends, in 1999. Special Friends won instant airplay, immediate success with listeners, and the magnanimous praise of music industry professionals. Ms. Aguilar teaches percussion at the Third Street Music School Settlement and gives seminars and clinics throughout the boroughs of New York City as part of the New York Public Library’s educational programs.

Emanuel Moreira, guitarist and vocalist, was born in Miami the same day his family emigrated from Brazil. Mr. Moreira took his first guitar lesson at the age of seven from the famed Brazilian guitarist, Sebastiao Tapajoz. Mr. Moreira has studied a mixture of arts from a variety of locations including, orchestral conducting at the Julliard School in New York, acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, and Brazilian dance with famed Carlinhos de Jesus in Rio de Janeiro. He also studied jazz guitar with Pat Martino and Brazilian classical guitar with Tiberio Nascimento, and continues to study voice with Jim Carson in New York City, where he resides. He has worked professionally as a guitarist, singer, arranger, musical director, composer and producer. Mr. Moreira played guitar for Broadway productions such as Aida, Blood Brothers, and The Who’s Tommy. His repertoire includes an array of styles including pop, rock, jazz, blues, reggae, samba, salsa, calypso, mambo and has performed in Europe, Asia, the Caribbean.

Ellen Marie Uryevick Adams, harpist, grew up in New York City listening to Latin music. Ms. Adams combines a classical background with Afro-Cuban, Caribbean, and a Brazilian beat to form a unique blend of rhythm. She studied classical harp with Bernice Horowitz, and jazz harp with Anita Clark. Ms. Adams has performed with Laura Nyro, Pete Seeger, Dizzy Gillespie, and personal appearances include Carnegie Hall, and presently as a solo harpist in the Plaza and Waldorf Astoria hotels.

Ana Milat Meyer, electric bass, is a Brooklyn, New York native who studied bass with Ron Carter, Ray Santos, and with Guillermo Edgehill. Ms. Meyer adapts and performs a variety of different music genres including heavy rock, ska (a fusion of Jamaican rhythm with R&B) and Latin jazz. For two years she toured extensively with the ska band, Pilfers, and has performed Latin jazz for the Brooklyn museum, and the Brooklyn Children’s museum.
 

May 15, 2003
Millennium Stage

Miriam Sullivan, bassist, was born in New York City. She plays various musical styles including jazz, funk, hip hop, soul, and Latin rock. She received a bachelor of music degree from the Manhattan School of Music, she has studied with Billy Taylor, Lisle Atkinson, Ron Carter, Charles Davis, and Ted Dunbar. Ms. Sullivan performed in numerous jazz festivals including the Capetown Jazzathon, JVC Jazz Festival, Jazz Festival of Iowa State and the Kennedy Center Mary Lou Williams Festival. She has toured in Poland, Germany, Czechoslovakia and Japan. In Greece in which she performed the esteemed Athens’s jazz club, Half Note. Ms. Sullivan has performed with musicians including Wynton Marsalis, Philip Harper, Joshua Redman, Cindy Blackman, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Onaje Allen Gumbs, and Claudia Acuña. She is a three-time winner at “Showtime at the Apollo,” and the recipient of the Milt Hinton Scholarship Award.

Jainardo Bastisa Sterling, conga drums and vocalist, was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico to a family of dancers and musicians. He moved to New York City where he is studying music theory and vocal training at the Boys and Girls Harbor Music Conservatory. He is the founding member, lead vocalist, percussionist, and composer of the Afro-Cuban band Mo’ Guajiro. Mr. Sterling’s band performed at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Christie’s Auction House, and the World Music Festival of Puerto Rico. A prominent figure on the salsa, rumba, and timba scene, Mr. Sterling performs at many venues throughout New York City.

Steve Bloom, guitarist, works and teaches regularly in New York and in Europe. He teaches at the Great Neck Music Center in New York, and at the Harlem School of the Arts. Mr. Bloom performs as a sideman in a variety of groups playing jazz, Latin jazz, classical, Brazilian, tango, Afro-Cuban, and blues. He received a bachelor degree in jazz studies from Long Island University in Brooklyn, and also studied privately with Ted Dunbar, Pat Martino, Ben Monder, Dave Fiuczynksi, Virginia Luquè, and Mark del Priora.

Antonio De Vivo, drummer, was born and raised in Caracas where he taught himself to play the drums at age 11. While in Caracas he worked with many artists including jazz singer Biella da Costa, Alvaro Falcon, and Gonzalo Mico. He moved to New York City in 1991 and toured with Jainardo Bastisa Sterling in Mo’ Guajiro, an Afro-Cuban band. Mr. Vivo attended the Ars Nova Music School in Caracas, Venezuela and he holds a bachelor degree in of fine arts from the New School University in New York City.
 

May 27, 2003
Millennium Stage

June 3, 2003
Millennium Stage

Miguel Zenon, saxophonist was born in 1976 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He studied saxophone at the Escuela Libre de Musica in Ha To Rey, a Puerto Rican institution that boasts distinguished alumni including tenor saxophonist David Sanchez, percussionist Richie Flores and bassist John Benitez. Mr. Zenon received a scholarship from the Puerto Rico Heineken Jazz Festival and continued his education at the Berklee School of Music in Boston. He became active in the Boston area jazz scene where he worked with drummer Bob Moses' Mozamba and the Either/Orchestra. In 1998 attended the Manhattan School of Music in New York City where he received his master's degree in saxophone performance in 2001. Mr. Zenon has performed and recorded with an array of artists and groups including the David Sanchez Sextet, Danilo Perez, William Cepeda's Afrorican Jazz, The Village Vanguard Orchestra, The Guillermo Klein Big Band, The David Murray Big Band, The Jason Linder Big Band, Brian Lynch, and Greg Tardy. Looking Forward (2002), his first CD as a leader incorporates a fusion of jazz, Latin, classical and folkloric influences. Luis Perdomo, Antonio Sanchez, Hans Glawischnig, Pernell Saturnino and guests David Sanchez, William Cepeda, Diego Urcola and Ben Monder are also featured on this recording.

Aldemar Valentin, electric bassist, studied at the School of Fine Arts in Ponce, Puerto Rico, Berklee College of Music and privately with Hal Crook, and Oscar Stagnaro. Mr. Valentin performed with numerous jazz, Brazilian, and salsa groups in Massachusetts, New York, the Caribbean, and various Latin American countries. He has performed with Dave Valentin, Charlie Sepùlveda, Giovanni Hidalgo, Antonio Sànchez, Paoli Mejias, Ricardo Pons, and Miguel Zenon. Mr. Valentin served as a faculty member for the Conservatorio de Mùsica de Puerto Rico in San Juan and the Universidad Interamericana in San German, Puerto Rico.

Antonio Escapa IV, drummer, was born in 1980 in Hato Rey, Puerto Rico. He is the son of famous Puerto Rican pianist and arranger Antonio Escapa III, who played with Ricky Martin's first group, Menundo. Mr. Escapa IV started playing guitar at age ten and drums at 11. He moved to Orlando, Florida and attended Lake Howell High School, a school known for its musical programs. Mr. Escapa returned to Puerto Rico to work with guitarist Jorge Laboy. In the summer of 1999, while at the "Berklee in Puerto Rico" program, he won a scholarship to study at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. He became the drummer in a band led by Berklee faculty member Egui Castrillo and played in some of the best Boston jazz clubs. In the summer of 2000 Mr. Escapa performed with the Berklee Kobe Quartet in Japan. He is also a member of a trio led by pianist Sergio Salvatore.

Reinaldo Corchado, percussionist, was born in Barrio Obrero Santurce, Puerto Rico in 1978. Mr. Corchado graduated from the Escuela Libre de Musica in Ha To Rey, Puerto Rico, and attended the University of Puerto Rico and the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico. He played in Latin jazz, and salsa groups with musicians and singers including Charlie Cruz, Obie Bermudes, Cano Estremera, Nino Segarra, PuPy Santiago, Humberto Ramirez, Julio Alvarado, Ramon Vasquez, and Tito Puento. Mr. Corchado played the Tabarka Jazz Fest in Tunisia, the Afro-rican Jazz at Montreux, and at North Sea, Moers Jazz Festival in Germany, and the Miracle Mile Jazz Festival in Miami.
 

Freddie Bryant and Kaleidoscope
Freddie Bryant, Andrew Eulau, Tom Aalfs, and Willard Dyson

September 10, 2003
Millennium Stage

Freddie Bryant, guitarist, was born in New York City on December 30, 1964. His mother, Beatrice Rippy, (a concert and opera singer), played "Bess" in the same production of Porgy and Bess as Cab Calloway. His father, Carroll Hollister, (a concert pianist), often-accompanied vocalist Robert McFerrin Sr. Mr. Bryant's jazz and classical musical education began at the age of eight and continued through high school. He received private jazz instruction with guitarists Gene Bertoncini, Sal Salvador and Ted Dunbar. His classical studies were with Phil de Fremery. In 1987 Mr. Bryant graduated summa cum laude from Amherst College, then completed his graduate studies at Yale University with renowned classical guitarist Ben Verdery. Mr. Bryant has performed with Wynton Marsalis, Max Roach, Lonnie Smith, and guitar legend Kenny Burrell. He led jazz groups under his own name and with pianist Johnny King. His groups have featured saxophonists including Ralph Moore, currently with the Jay Leno Tonight Show Band, David Sanchez, Don Braden and Vincent Herring. Other musicians include pianists Renee Rosnes and Kevin Hays and trumpeter Randy Brecker. In 1994, CD entitled Take Your Dance Into Battle was released in Japan. As a composer he has written the score for an independent film for Portuguese television. Classical career highlights include performances of solo guitar work at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City as well as the Franck Colleymore Hall in Barbados. In 2001 Mr. Bryant was featured at the Kennedy Center with the Billy Taylor Trio. He is presently a faculty member at the Interplay Jazz Camp in Beverley, Massachusetts.

Andrew Eulau, bassist, received a bachelor of science in music with a concentration in jazz improvisation from Mercy College in New York and a master of music in doublebass performance from North Texas University College of Music. Mr. Eulau studied with Lyndon Christie, Eleanor Hancock, Jack Messing, and Ed Rainbow. He has performed as a sideman in France, Spain, Switzerland, South Korea, and Canada with musicians including Ralph Williams, Ray Barretto, Barbara Klap, John Nugent, and with the Glen Miller Orchestra. Mr. Eulau is featured on recordings with Anthony Braxton, John DePalma, Andy Biskin, Tim Newman, and Bill Charlap. He is presently an adjunct professor of jazz bass at New Jersey City University, a doublebass and bass instructor at Rutgers University, and a doublebass instructor at The Rudolf Steiner School.

Tom Aalfs, violinist, started playing professionally at age 14 at local festivals. He graduated from Berklee College of Music in Boston, and received a bachelor's in education from the University of Massachusetts. He has led his own groups and has been featured as a sideman at numerous venues including the JVC Jazz Festival in New York, the Umbria Jazz Festival in Italy, the San Miguel de Allende Jazz Festival in Mexico, and the Pocono Jazz Festival in Pennsylvania. Mr. Aalfs is featured on three of Etta Jones' CDs, At Last (1995), The Melody Lingers On (1997), and All the Way (1999). He leads a variety of workshops from grade school to college in many subjects including jazz improvisation, Latin percussion, and interactive poetry.

Willard Dyson, drummer, born in 1962, has played percussion since the 5th grade. In his teens, he received a scholarship to participate in the Young Musicians Program at the University of California at Berkeley. Mr. Willard earned a bachelor degree in percussion performance from California State Hayward University and a master degree in jazz and commercial music from the Manhattan School of Music in New York City. He works regularly with a diverse group of musicians including Regina Belle, Grady Tate, Jimmy Scott, The New York Voices, Dakota Staton and Cassandra Wilson. He plays New York clubs as well as various Broadway and Off-Broadway shows. Mr. Dyson has appeared on the Tonight Show, Soul Train, The Arsenio Hall Show, Good Morning America and BET along with performances at the New Zealand, JVC, Playboy and Essence Music festivals.