Quincy Jones Presents: The Alfredo Rodriguez Trio w/ Ricardo Rodriguez and Henry ColeFriday, March 4th 2011 6:30pm
Akron Art Museum
Akron, Ohio 44308
330-376-9166
Born in Havana, Cuba, Alfredo trained at the famous Manuel Saumell Classical Music Conservatory, then at the Amadeo Roldan Music Conservatory and subsequently at the Instituto Superior de Arte. His lucky break came in 2006 when he was selected as one of twelve pianists from around the world to play at the prestigious Montreux Jazz Festival. In Montreux, Alfredo struck a chord in legendary music producer Quincy Jones who noticed Alfredo’s immense talent and decided to begin working with Alfredo. In January of 2009 Alfredo made the difficult decision to leave his family and country behind and embark on a journey to pursue a career in music in the United States.
In his first two years since moving to the United States, Alfredo Rodríguez has played to capacity crowds during the Playboy Jazz Festival at the Hollywood Bowl; the SXSW Music Festival in Austin, Texas; the Detroit Jazz Festival; the Monterey Jazz Festival; the Newport Jazz Festival; and many others. In July of 2010 Alfredo did his first European Tour with his Trio playing at XVI International Open Air Festival (Poland), Jazz a Vienne Festival (France), North Sea Jazz Festival (Netherlands), Umbria Jazz Festival (Italy), Montreux Jazz festival (Switzerland) and with the Quincy Jones Global Gumbo All Stars, a group featuring the likes of Richard Bona, Lionel Loueke, Paulinho da Costa, Francisco Mela, and Nikki Yanofsky.
He has built an enormous presence in China after co-writing, with Quincy Jones, the song “Better City, Better Life”, which w as chosen to be the Official Theme Song of the 2010 Shanghai World Expo. He has since played to influential crowds at the 2010 Shanghai Film Festival and the 2010 Shanghai Tourist Festival. Alfredo’s debut CD is set to be released in early 2011 on Quincy Jones' Qwest label with Alfredo’s influences from Bach, Beethoven, and Stravinsky to Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock, and Quincy Jones being displayed prominently. In his words, “Everything I learn, in all aspects of my life, contributes to my music.” In the words of Quincy Jones, “He is very special and I do not say that easily because I have been surrounded by the best musicians in the world my entire life and he is one of the best.”
For more details, please vist www.alfredomusic.com
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