July 30, 2021
7-time GRAMMY Award-winning composer, bandleader, and pianist Arturo O’Farrill has fulfilled what he calls “a lifelong dream” with his signing to Blue Note Records and the September 24 release of his label debut …dreaming in lions… The album finds O’Farrill leading the colorful 10-piece assemblage The Afro Latin Jazz Ensemble thru a vibrant set that presents two multi-movement suites he conceived in collaboration with Malpaso Dance Company of Cuba: “Despedida,” a meditation on farewells, and “Dreaming in Lions,” inspired by Ernest Hemingway’s novel The Old Man and the Sea.
The album’s opening track “Despedida: Del Mar” is available to stream or download today. O’Farrill will be celebrating the release of …dreaming in lions… with shows at Birdland in New York City from September 7-11.
“Blue Note is the home of the greatest music that I have grown up with,” O’Farrill remarks. “You can’t place a moment like this. It’s incredible, and it represents more than music to me. It represents an opportunity to engage Blue Note’s audience with the many different ways that I express my convictions through my art. I know that Blue Note has stood for that, and will continue to engage with socially conscious art. It’s what I’ve been doing for my entire career.”
For O’Farrill, suites afford the space to convey extended narratives and cinematic ideas, a broadness of scope and intent that interests him most as a composer. Like his father, the legendary bandleader Chico O’Farrill, he is committed to breaching musical boundaries in search of genuine, elevated expression. He has transmitted these values in turn to his sons, trumpeter Adam O’Farrill and drummer Zack O’Farrill, both of whom are featured on …dreaming in lions… Joining them are multi-percussionists Vince Cherico, Carlos “Carly” Maldonado and Victor Pablo Garcia Gaetan, bassist Bam Rodriguez, trombonist and euphonist Rafi Malkiel, flutist/saxophonist Alejandro Aviles, and guitarist Travis Reuter.
“Despedida,” in five movements, was written for performances O’Farrill and Malpaso have given around the world. “We’d play onstage with the dancers, or side by side with them, but always in real time,” says the pianist. “The piece is about farewells, and I was going through quite a few of them in my life, so it was poignant. My mother was very ill, friends were departing, I was in the process of changing institutions. There’s something noble about being able to say farewell — not, ‘I’ll see you later.’ It’s about embracing despedida [separation, parting], knowing that there’s a finality to life.”
The tracklisting for …dreaming in lions… is as follows:
DESPEDIDA
- Del Mar
- Intruso
- Beauty Cocoon
- Ensayo Silencio
- La Llorona
DREAMING IN LIONS
- Dreaming in Lions
- Scalular
- How I Love
- The Deep
- War Bird Man
- Struggles and Strugglets
- I Wish We Was
- Blood in the Water
- Dreams So Gold
