Saturday, October 8, 2022

Doors open at 6:30 pm; concert begins at 7 pm

An evening of live music and album release for A.M.A. Project, music video premiere, and a meet the artists reception

Early bird tickets: $25 general admission, $22.50 JAC Members, Seniors + Students

$30 at the door

MEET THE MUSICIANS:

Scroll for individual bios

FRANCISCO PAIS: A.M.A. PROJECT:

Stream Francisco Pais on Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, etc.

Portuguese composer Francisco Pais Cardoso and ballerina Daphne Lee come together for a collaboration that shows both artists on a perpetual quest for new paradigms, masterfully weaving inspiration from other genres, arts, and life in general into compositions that are as poetic and graceful as they are bold and unflinching.

The A.M.A Project blends the Portuguese words: Joy, Mischievousness and Love. But the acronym also means the act of loving. 

During its 20-year career, Francisco Pais ensemble has found itself situated in both the center and the periphery of jazz. The ensemble is at home in both the historic jazz clubs of NYC, jazz festivals but can be heard at auditoriums, cultural arts centers and theaters. His ensemble's unorthodox approach to sound and composition have earned his ensembles grants and commissions from the Doris Duke Foundation, Chamber Music America and Rhode Island State Council for the Arts. 

Motivated primarily by Portuguese culture, poetry and spiritual practices, Francisco’s commitment to invention and innovation through music will never cease to serve a wide community of people that get to share his uncompromising dedication to music as an art form. After spending a decade writing primarily for a quintet, Francisco has found himself expanding his palette of colors by incorporating strings, woodwinds and now dance. With the burning passion of adding another art form to the texture of his compositions he reached out to rising star African American ballerina Daphne Lee. She is a member of the Dance Theater of Harlem. She graduated with Honors from the Ailey/Fordham B.F.A program in dance and is a recipient of the D. Jefferson Scholarship. Ms. Lee was also featured in the opening video for the Mrs. Carter World Tour for Beyonce.

The wide scope of the ensemble's material is evident in their diverse group of collaborators. Ranging from rising star African American ballerina Daphne Lee, Palestinian Kanun master Firas Zreik and American saxphonist Myron Walden. The ensemble is dedicated to incorporating the voices of great of artists regardless of race, gender or socio-econmic status. The AMA project is a global adventure.

In one composition Francisco’s sings a poem that speaks of a journey through a mountain near a village he grew up in Portugal called Sintra while Palestinian Kanun artist recorded part of this composition in the middle of hostile territory in Palestine delivering an incredible harp like beautiful sound that resembles portuguese Fado music. Another composition places him inside an apartment in Washington Heights in NYC with a black ballerina dancing to his sounds.

Francisco’s latest compositions are a reflection of an immigrant's divided identity and the relationship between the traditional music of his home country with those of the wider global community he now belongs to.

Moto Fukushima

Born in Kobe, Japan; based in NYC. six-string bass player, composer, and shamisen player.
A lifelong musician, Fukushima was given the Outstanding Performer Award before graduating Sum Cum laude from Berklee College of Music. His study of Western Classical music, Japanese traditional music, and the African inspired musical sensibilities of South America are heard in his jazz improvisation, his playing is an amazing combination of finesse, subtlety, and power.
He is co-leading Brooklyn-based power trio "House of Waters". They released two albums from Grammy Award group Snarky Puppy's GroundUp label. The first album hit #2 on the iTunes World music chart, and the second album hit #4 on the iTunes Jazz chart.

Ferenc Nemeth

Ferenc Nemeth is a world-renown and versatile, Grammy-award-winning musician who continues to push the boundaries of jazz drumming and composition. In 2020, he won the prestigious Independent Music Award in Jazz Album Category, with his latest album ‘FREEDOM’. The Spanish Jazz y Mas Heineken Festival named him the Best Drummer in the world! An exciting performer and imaginative collaborator, Nemeth is well regarded for his work with the Lionel Loueke Trio, Kenny Werner Coalition, Billy Childs Trio and has worked with multiple GRAMMY award winning artists such as Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, John Patitucci, Dave Samuels, Mark Turner, Hal Crook, Terence Blanchard, John Clayton, Jimmy Heath, The Henry Mancini Orchestra, Gilad Hekselman, Dhafer Youssef and many more.

Beyond the extensive repertoire of performance and recording, Nemeth has also established his own label, Dreamer’s Collective Records and just released his fifth album on it, called ’Freedom’, featuring Greg Tardy and Tzumo Arpad. In 2007, he released his debut album of original compositions, Night Songs to much accolade. A second project for the label was released in 2012, sees Joshua Redman, Kenny Werner, Lionel Loueke as contributors, as well as a small wind orchestra. Both of his albums were finalists at the Independent Music Award in 2008 and 2012. Ferenc has also released 2 collaborative albums on his label, one with Javier Vercher and Dave Kikoski in 2013 called Imaginary Realm and another in 2014 with Attila Laszlo, Russell Ferrante and Jimmy Haslip called Bridges of Souls. His latest album is called ‘FREEDOM’ and it was released in 2020. The album is featuring Tzumo Arpad on piano, Gregory Tardy on Sax and Ferenc on Drums, Percussion and Vocal* (*first time ever on a recording).

Myron Walden

Saxophonist, Bass Clarenetist, Flutist, Composer, Arranger, Lyricist, Recording Artist

Can be heard in performance and recordings on: Tenor, Alto & Soprano Saxophones, Bass Clarinet, Piccolo, Concert, Alto & Bass Flutes

Attended & Graduated:

Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music and the Arts 1987-1990

Manhattan School of Music 1990-1994

Won Charlie Parker Competition 1993

Saxophone Instructor at The New School 2012-current

Keilwerth Saxophone Endorser – 2002-current

Buffett Calrinet Endorser 2003-current

Theo Wanne Mouthpiece Endorser 2005-current

D’Addario Reed Endorser 2016-current

15 recordings released as a leader (produced, composed & arranged all the music)

2 singles released as a leader (produced, composed & arranged the music)

2 Grammy Nominations:

Best Latin Jazz Album for “Time Was Time Is” w/Ray Barretto, 2005

Best Jazz Instrumental for “Landmarks” w/Brian Blade & The Fellowship Band 2015

Toured & recorded w/trumpet legend Freddie Hubbard 1998-2008

Toured & recorded w/conguero legend Ray Barretto 2001-2005

Toured and recorded w/bassist extraordinaire Esperanza Spalding 2017-current

Toured & recorded w/master drummer Brian Blade & The Fellowship Band 1997- current

Performed woodwinds on the soundtrack of: Amy Schummer’s Hulu series Life & Beth as well as the Netflix featured documentary Descendant.

Has performed with artists crossing many styles, genres and generations such as:

Common, Diggable Planets, Talib Kweli, Will I Am, Harry Connick Jr., Wynton Marsalis, Nat Adderley, Jimmy Cobb, Lizz Wright, Andy Bey, Joe Williams, Diane Reeves, Jon Hendricks, Kenny Kirkland, Jeff Tain Watts, Dave Douglas , Roy Hargrove and many more…

In performance w/Common & Will I Am:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgmeItVMELQ&index=3&list=PLrNG6sD8ijIB

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In performance w/Brian Blade & The Fellowship Band:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qwv2f5m0xM