Neighborhood Music School Jazz Youth Orchestra
Neighborhood Music School was established in 1911 as part of the settlement house movement to assist New Haven's new and growing immigrant population. It became an independent, non-profit corporation in 1950 and flourished for many years on lower Chapel Street in the Wooster Square neighborhood. In response to regional growth and expanding enrollment, NMS built its own 30,000 square foot facility (with 33 studios, practice rooms, recital hall, & library) on Audubon Street in 1968, becoming the first arts organization in the city's Audubon Arts District. In addition to this main facility, NMS holds weekly classes at three public school sites, two private schools, and at branches in Guilford and in Woodbridge.

NMS is one of the 10 largest community arts schools in the nation!

Noah Bearman Know Thyself Jazz Suite with Wayne Escoffery
Jazz pianist, composer, educator and author Noah Baerman grew up in Connecticut, studying jazz at New Haven’s Educational Center for the Arts and at Jackie McLean’s Artists’ Collective in Hartford. In the 1990s, he earned B.M. and M.M. degrees in Jazz Studies from Rutgers University, where his mentor was Kenny Barron. Aside from Barron, his instructors included Ted Dunbar, Joanne Brackeen, Bill Fielder, Ralph Bowen, Larry Ridley and Michael Mossman. He also discovered a broad range of music through studies in jazz history with Phil Schaap and Lewis Porter. While at Rutgers, he performed extensively in and around New York with jazz artists including Bowen, Charles Fambrough, Stefon Harris, Rufus Reid, Akira Tana, Mark Turner and many others. From 1994-1999, he co-led the quartet Positive Rhythmic Force, performing throughout the east coast and recording two CDs.

Since then he has participated in numerous recordings as a sideman and under his own name. The second of these, his 2003 release Patch Kit, features the renowned bassist Ron Carter and drummer Ben Riley. By this time, Noah’s performing career had been hampered significantly by his struggles with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS), an incurable connective tissue disorder, and the tunes on Patch Kit are inspired by the difficulties and humble triumphs associated with this circumstance. Patch Kit was conceived as benefit album for the Ehlers-Danlos National Foundation and a means of raising awareness of EDS, and the album has succeeded on both counts. Patch Kit received significant airplay nationally and received press coverage in such publications as JazzTimes, Jazziz, Jazz Critics (Japan) and All About Jazz – New York. It also attracted the attention of many musicians, including legendary pianist Marian McPartland, who invited Noah to be a guest on her long-running NPR radio program “Piano Jazz” in 2005.

Patch Kit was followed by What It Is, a trio album documenting a live performance on Noah’s 30th birthday in December, 2003. His next album was 2005 release Soul Force, a tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King’s life and message. Soul Force features a large ensemble including such guest artists as trombonist Robin Eubanks, percussionist Warren Smith and saxophonists Steve Wilson, Jimmy Greene, Wayne Escoffery and Claire Daly. The album demonstrates Noah’s continued commitment to “message music” in the tradition of artists like Max Roach, Charles Mingus, Nina Simone and Charlie Haden. In 2008 he released the trio album Bliss and was awarded a “New Works” grant from Chamber Music America/Doris Duke Foundation to create the extended suite “Know Thyself.” Noah is also a member of the collective quintet Playdate, which features Amanda Monaco and Wayne Escoffery and released its eponymous first album on Posi-Tone Records in 2009.

Noah currently lives in Connecticut where he and his wife, visual artist Kate Ten Eyck, are foster parents and passionate advocates for youth issues. He teaches privately and at several institutions including Wesleyan University, Central Connecticut State University and Charter Oak State College. His teaching style has been codified through a series of well-regarded instructional books published by the Alfred Publishing Company. These include Jazz Keyboard Harmony, the three-volume Complete Jazz Keyboard Method and the Big Book of Jazz Piano Improvisation, as well as an instructional DVD. In 2008, Alfred published the Versatile Keyboardist, his ninth book. Noah is also a prolific composer, having earned honors from the Billboard Song Contest (First Prize, jazz category), the Unisong Contest (First Prize, jazz category), and ASCAP (“ASCAPlus Awards” every year since 2004).

Winard Harper
Drummer WINARD HARPER is passionate about jazz. "This music is powerful," he says. "It can do a lot of good for people. If they'd spend some time each day listening to it, we would see many changes in the world."

Inspired by the musicianship of greats such as Clifford Brown, Max Roach, Jackie McLean, Cannonball Adderley, Dr. Billy Taylor, Art Blakey and Billy Higgins, Harper has been the leader and musical inspiration for a vibrant sextet for almost a decade. The group appears regularly all over the United States from the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. to Yoshi's, the legendary West Coast jazz club. Although clearly the dominant force behind this extraordinarily gifted ensemble, Harper has surrounded himself with superbly talented young guardians of the jazz tradition (including Lawrence Clark, Ameen Saleem, Josh Evans, Stacy Dillard and Alioune Faye), who are as entertaining to watch as they are to listen to.

Born in Baltimore in 1962, Winard had a natural affinity for drumming. He was encouraged to play the drums by his father, who noticed him beating on cans when he was three or four years old. At the age of five, Winard was developing his skills and making guest appearances with his older brother Danny's nightclub band. A turning point was reached when Winard heard a recording of Clifford Brown and Max Roach. It was then that he was irreversibly inspired to play jazz. "I was fascinated hearing Max do the things he did playing with mallets and everything," he remembers.

"Early on," Harper continues, "I transcribed a couple of Max solos, but I really just loved listening to him. He was a big influence as well as Art Blakey, and more so than anybody, Billy Higgins. The joy and the passion and his love of playing really made an impact on me. I could see similarities between myself and him, and then we became such great friends. A lot of the concept of my band was inspired by Billy. A lot of the African influences and different instruments I use in the band, Billy was always exploring as well."

Constantly in reverence of his predecessors while remaining innovative in his own right, Harper has become one of the most celebrated drummers in jazz. He is a virtuoso on the drum set as well as the balafon, the West African equivalent of the marimba. Critics have written that Winard is as pleasing and entertaining to watch as he is to hear. "As tasteful a drummer as one could ask for," according to Jeff Kaliss of JazzTimes. Franz Matzner recently wrote in All About Jazz that the sextet's performance "culminated in an evening of fireworks with a sustained display of percussive pyrotechnics by Harper so rapid fire, so mind bogglingly dexterous, and so expressively diverse, as to be truly awe-inspiring." And in a Washington Post review, Mike Joyce said, "Winard Harper's wonderfully orchestrated solos alone might have forced a corpse to grin!"

Harper's first major gig was with Dexter Gordon in 1982, and shortly thereafter with Johnny Griffin. It wasn't long before his drumming skills captured the attention of Betty Carter. He spent four years working with Ms. Carter's band, inevitably honing his jazz-as-entertainment sense of showmanship.

"With Betty I learned consistency and persistence," Harper recalls. "Working with her prepared me to become a bandleader; I learned a lot about the business from her. When I left Betty's band, I came out with enough information to get the Harper Brothers on the way. She gave me the inside track on bookings, clubs, most of the places we worked were the same places I worked with her."

During the 1980s while Winard worked as a sideman to such jazz legends as Ray Bryant, Abdullah Ibrahim, Pharoah Sanders and Clifford Jordan, he also laid the foundation for what would become The Harper Brothers band. He and his brother Philip launched a band that would blaze a brilliant trail both on the charts and on the international touring circuit.

"Man for man, The Harper Brothers Quintet … is the most brilliant new jazz group of the new decade," declared Leonard Feather in his review of the band's Los Angeles performance in early 1990. Remembrance, the band's second album went to #1 on Billboard's jazz chart in 1991.

Piadrum recording artist Winard Harper is one of the hardest working drummers in jazz today, not only leading his very exciting and hard-swinging sextet, but also continuing as an in-demand sideman. When not touring with his band, Harper continues to work and record with such artists such as Joe Lovano, Avery Sharpe, Steve Turre, Wycliffe Gordon, Frank Wess, Ray Bryant, and Jimmy Heath. His newest CD, Make It Happen, goes further than any of his previous six releases to highlight his talent as drummer, composer and bandleader.

And now the Winard Harper Sextet moves to a new level of success. Not only is the band gaining increased air play around the globe, they regularly appear in festivals, on jazz cruises, in concert halls and in top jazz clubs, the Winard Harper Sextet is doing their part to bring the power of jazz to audiences everywhere. The response has been nothing short of remarkable. But then again, so is Winard Harper.

Bobby Watson
A saxophonist, composer, arranger and educator, Bobby Watson grew up in Kansas City, Kan. He trained formally at the University of Miami, a school with a distinguished and well-respected jazz program. After graduating, he proceeded to earn his "doctorate" – on the bandstand – as musical director of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. The group, created in 1955 by late legendary drummer who died in 1990, showcased a rotating cast of players, many who, like Watson, would go on to have substantial careers as bandleaders in their own right. The Jazz Messengers – frequently referred to as the "University of Blakey" – served as the ultimate "postgraduate school" for ambitious young players.

After completing a four-year-plus Jazz Messengers tenure (1977-1981), the gifted Watson became a much-sought after musician, working along the way with a potpourri of notable artists – peers, elder statesmen and colleagues all -- including, but not limited to: drummers Max Roach and Louis Hayes, fellow saxophonists George Coleman and Branford Marsalis, celebrated multi-instrumentalist Sam Rivers and trumpeter Wynton Marsalis (who joined the Jazz Messengers at least in part at the suggestion of Watson). In addition to working with a variety of instrumentalists, Watson served in a supporting roll for a number of distinguished and stylistically varied vocalists including: Joe Williams, Dianne Reeves, Lou Rawls, Betty Carter and Carmen Lundy.

Later, in association with bassist Curtis Lundy and drummer Victor Lewis, Watson launched the first edition of Horizon, an acoustic quintet modeled in many ways after the Jazz Messengers but one with its own distinct slightly more modern twist. Among the group’s other talented members were pianist Ed Simon, trumpeter TereIl Stafford and bassist Essiet Okon Essiet. Clearly, by all critical accounts, Horizon, which still performs together occasionally, is now considered as one of the preeminent small groups of the mid-1980s to mid-1990s. The group recorded several highly acclaimed titles for the Blue Note and Columbia record labels including Post-Motown Bop (Blue Note) and Midwest Shuffle, Live! (Columbia); it was a compendium that captured the group in concert at a number of locations circa 1993.

In addition to his work with Horizon, Watson also led a group known as the High court of Swing – a tribute to the music of Johnny Hodges – as well as the Grammy-nominated 16-piece, large ensemble Tailor-Made Big Band. The lyrical stylist is also a founding member of the well-respected 29th Street Saxophone Quartet, an all-horn, four-piece ensemble.

For close to three decades Watson has contributed consistently intelligent, sensitive and well-thought out music to the modern-day jazz lexicon. He wrote original music for the soundtrack of A Bronx Tale, Robert DeNiro’s 1993 directorial debut. All told, Watson, the immensely talented and now-seasoned veteran, has issued close to 30 recordings as a leader. He appears on 100-plus other recordings, performing as either co-leader or in support of other like-minded musicians. The saxophonist has recorded more than 100 original compositions, many that have become classics and oft-recorded titles interpreted by his fellow musicians.

His long-time publisher, Second Floor Music, makes many of his original combo and big band compositions and arrangements available to other professionals internationally as well as domestically. In fact, many high school and college bands – in both large and small ensemble configurations -- look to interpret many of Watson’s fine compositions.

In December 2007 – with the publication of "Bobby Watson Volume 119" – a play-a-long of 13 of his most well known compositions – the saxophonist became part of the legendary Jamey Aebersold play-a-long educational series; it is a roster that includes numerous jazz icons: Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Joe Henderson, Cannonball Adderley, Herbie Hancock and Horace Silver.

Watson’s classic 1986 release, Love Remains (Red) has long been recognized by the Penguin Guide to Jazz (Penguin). Having received the publication’s highest rating it was then identified in the ready reference book’s seventh edition as a part of its "core collection" [i.e. a "must-have"], joining other entries by a number of aforementioned jazz masters as a recording that any jazz aficionado should own.

Most recently Watson has been recording for the Palmetto label. On the heels of Live & Learn (2005) and Horizon Reassembled (2006) he issued From the Heart, which unveils his latest band, a co-led project where he again shares the kudos with bassist Lundy. The release, issued in March 2008, went to No. 1 on the national jazz airplay chart and remained there for nine weeks.

In addition to his compositional and performance prowess Watson is equally respected as an educator, as someone who continues to inspire those who desire to follow him into the jazz field. He served as a member of the adjunct faculty and taught private saxophone at William Patterson University from 1985-1986 and Manhattan School of Music from 1996-1999.

A tireless worker and a "team player," Bobby Watson has been a first-call musician for nearly three decades. A New York-based resident for most of his professional life, in 2000 Bobby Watson became intrigued at the prospect of returning home when he was approached by the University of Missouri-Kansas City and asked to take a full-time faculty position. Lured to his Midwestern surroundings and the western border of the Show-Me State, Watson was selected and named as the first William D. and Mary Grant/Missouri, Distinguished Professorship in Jazz Studies at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. He has welcomed the challenge these past eight years where he has served as the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance’s Director of Jazz Studies.

Further demonstrating his commitment to the field of jazz education, Watson currently also holds the position of Artistic Director for the highly acclaimed Thelonious Monk Institute’s "Jazz in America" (www.jazzinamerica.org) Informance Program, which presents dozens of informational concerts and jazz workshops around the nation on an ongoing basis.

Those who love to see and hear Bobby Watson perform live should not worry. As in-demand as ever, the lyrical saxophonist balances his teaching responsibilities with engagements at major venues throughout the world including appearances at clubs, festivals, on campuses and at Performing Arts Centers.

Artists Collective Jackie McClean Youth Jazz Orchestra
The Artists Collective is a cultural institution serving the Greater Hartford region, providing year-round professional training in dance, music, drama, visual and martial arts emphasizing the arts and culture of the African Diaspora.

The mission of the Artists Collective is to preserve and perpetuate the arts and culture of the African Diaspora by providing training in the performing and visual arts and by sponsoring special events. It is also the mission of the Collective to develop professional artists, to foster positive feelings of self-identity among peoples of the African Diaspora, and to raise public consciousness about the value of this culture.

The Collective was established in 1970 by the internationally acclaimed alto saxophonist Jackie McLean and his wife Dollie McLean, along with local artists Cheryl Smith, Ionis Martin, and Paul Brown.

The vision of the founders was to create a safe haven for at-risk youth to offer alternatives to the violence of the streets, teen-age pregnancy, gangs, drugs and alcohol abuse.

The Collective serves a predominately low income black, Caribbean and Latino constituency. For many, it is their only exposure to the arts.

The Collective is unique in that its programs represent a non-traditional approach to arts education because they also include social skills training, school success and community responsibility. Individual and group workshops expose children to positive role models, stimulate youth to think critically, develop self-esteem, self-awareness, and pride in one’s cultural identity.

The Artists Collective serves over 1,200 students per year in its training programs.

Joe Morris with Matthew Shipp, Gerald Cleaver and Jim Hobbs
JOE MORRIS was born in New Haven, Connecticut on September 13, 1955. At the age of 12 he took lessons on the trumpet for one year. He started on guitar in 1969 at the age of 14. He played his first professional gig later that year. With the exception of a few lessons he is self-taught. The influence of Jimi Hendrix and other guitarists of that period led him to concentrate on learning to play the blues. Soon thereafter his sister gave him a copy of John Coltrane's OM which inspired him to learn about Jazz and New Music. From age 15 to 17 he attended a student run alternative High School called The Unschool in downtown New Haven next to the campus of Yale University. Taking advantage of the open learning style of the school he spent most of his time day and night playing music with other students, listening to ethnic folk, blues, jazz, and classical music on record at the public library and attending the various concerts and recitals on the Yale campus. He worked to establish his own voice on guitar in a free jazz context from the age of 17. Drawing on the influence of Coltrane, Miles Davis, Cecil Taylor,Thelonius Monk, Ornette Coleman as well as the AACM, BAG, and the many European improvisers of the '70s. Later he would draw influence from traditional West African string music, Messian, Ives, Eric Dolphy, Jimmy Lyons, Steve McCall and Fred Hopkins. After high school he performed in rock bands, rehearsed in jazz bands and played totally improvised music with friends until 1975 when he moved to Boston.

Between 1975 and 1978 he was active on the Boston creative music scene as a soloist as well as in various groups from duos to large ensembles. He composed music for his first trio in 1977. In 1980 he traveled to Europe where he performed in Belgium and Holland. When he returned to Boston he helped to organize the Boston Improvisers Group (BIG) with other musicians. Over the next few years through various configurations BIG produced two festivals and many concerts. In 1981 he formed his own record company, Riti, and recorded his first Lp Wraparound with a trio featuring Sebastian Steinberg on bass and Laurence Cook on drums. Riti records released four more LPs and CDs before 1991. Also in 1981 he began what would be a six year collaboration with the multi-instrumentalist Lowell Davidson, performing with him in a trio and a duo. During the next few years in Boston he performed in groups which featured among others; Billy Bang, Andrew Cyrille, Peter Kowald, Joe McPhee, Malcolm Goldstein, Samm Bennett, Lawrence "Butch" Morris and Thurman Barker. Between 1987 and 1989 he lived in New York City where he performed at the Shuttle Theater, Club Chandelier, Visiones, Inroads, Greenwich House, etc. as well as performing with his trio at the first festival Tea and Comprovisation held at the Knitting Factory.

In 1989 he returned to Boston. Between 1989 and 1993 he performed and recorded with his electric trio Sweatshop and electric quartet Racket Club. In 1994 he became the first guitarist to lead his own session in the twenty year history of Black Saint/Soulnote Records with the trio recording Symbolic Gesture. Since 1994 he has recorded for the labels ECM, Hat Hut, Leo, Incus, Okka Disc, Homestead, About Time, Knitting Factory Works, No More Records, AUM Fidelity and OmniTone and Avant. He has toured throughout the U.S., Canada and Europe as a solo and as a leader of a trio and a quartet. Since 1993 he has recorded and/or performed with among others; Matthew Shipp, William Parker, Joe and Mat Maneri, Rob Brown, Raphe Malik, Ivo Pearlman, Borah Bergman, Andrea Parkins, Whit Dickey, Ken Vandermark, DKV Trio, Karen Borca, Eugene Chadborne, Susie Ibarra, Hession/Wilkinson/Fell, Roy Campbell Jr., John Butcher, Aaly Trio, Hamid Drake, Fully Celebrated Orchestra and others.

He began playing acoustic bass in 2000 and has since performed with cellist Daniel Levin, Whit Dickey and recorded with pianist Steve Lantner.

He has lectured and conducted workshops trroughout the US and Europe. He is a former member of the faculty of Tufts University Extension College and is currently on the faculty at New England Conservatory in the jazz and improvisation department. He was nominated as Best Guitarist of the year 1998 and 2002 at the New York Jazz Awards.

Steve Davis Quartet with Larry Willis
Steve Davis is widely regarded as one of today's leading improvisers on the trombone. His lyrical, hard-swinging style first gained him broad recognition during the 1990's while working with the bands of jazz legends Art Blakey, Jackie McLean, Chick Corea's Origin and the cooperative sextet, One For All. Steve has appeared in Downbeat Magazine's Reader's and Critic's Polls numerous times, winning the TDWR (Risng Star) Trombone Category in 1998. Steve was also recently nominated by The JJA as 2010 Trombonist of the Year.

In June 2010, Davis released Images: The Hartford Suite (Positone) featuring his exciting, new OUTLOOK Quintet. The music, all Davis originals, has received rave reviews. Steve also released Live At Small's feat. Larry Willis in 2009 to rave reviews. Davis followed in his mentor Curtis Fuller's footsteps by joining saxophone legend Benny Golson's New Jazztet, apperaing on the group's new CD, New Time, New 'tet (Concord). In addition, Steve's collaboration with the late, great pianist Hank Jones can be heard on the critically acclaimed CD, ELOQUENCE (Sept 2009 Jazz Legacy Productions). Along with Davis and Jones, the stellar line-up includes Nat Reeves (bass), Joe Farnsworth (drums) and special guests Steve Nelson (vibes), Roy Hargrove (trumpet) and John Lee (electric bass).

Born in Worcester, MA in 1967, Steve was raised in Binghamton, NY and graduated in 1989 from The Hartt School's Jackie McLean Institute (University of Hartford, CT). It was Mc Lean's guidance and recommendation that helped Davis land his first major gig with Art Blakey in NYC in Dec 1989. Returning to Hartford in 1992, Davis joined Mc Lean's sextet and begin teaching alongside his mentor at both the Hartt School and Artist's Collective. Steve has resided in Hartford ever since.

In recent years, Steve has been leading his own bands with more frequency including an all-star quartet featuring renowned pianist and frequent collaborator Larry Willis (Alone Together/Mapleshade 2006) and his exciting, new OUTLOOK QUINTET featuring rising stars Mike DiRubbo (alto sax), David Bryant (piano), Dezron Douglas (bass) and Eric McPherson (drums).

Steve also continues to perform and record with the well-known, collective unit One For All (Eric Alexander, Jim Rotondi, David Hazeltine, John Webber and Joe Farnsworth). The band has recorded 13 CD's since 1997 for Sharp Nine, Criss Cross and Venus/Japan. Both their recordings and live performances have garnered rave reviews. Their latest effort, Incorrigible (Jazz Legacy Productions) rose to # 1 on the JazzWeek radio charts after just three weeks. Their previous release, Return Of The Lineup was featured in the Sept 2009 issue of JazzTimes and was # 1 on the JazzWeek radio playlist for three weeks last year. www.secondfloormusic.com began publishing One For All sextet charts in two sets, as recorded on the group's first two CD's, "Too Soon To Tell" (1997) and "Optimism" (1998) for Sharp Nine Records. For Steve Davis' lead sheets and transcribed solos, also visit... www.jazzleadsheets.com

Ever in-demand as a sideman, Davis is featured on over 100 recordings. In recent years, "Stevie-D" (a nickname given to him by the late Jackie McLean) has worked regularly with a broad range of jazz icons including Larry Willis' Quintet, Freddie Hubbard and The New Jazz Composers Octet, Slide Hampton and The Dizzy Gillespie Alumni All-Star Big Band (feat. James Moody, Jimmy Heath and Roy Hargrove), The Jimmy Heath Big Band, Cecil Payne, Horace Silver and Wynton Marsalis' Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra.

Davis continues to lead an active teaching career at the Hartt School's Jackie McLean Institute (University of Hartford) where he has been on faculty since 1991 and now teaches alongside longtime colleague Nat Reeves, Rene McLean, Eric McPherson, Shawnn Montiero, Chris Casey, Andy LaVerne, Eddie Henderson, Randy Johnston and others.

Steve also continues his long-time affiliation with the Artist`s Collective (founded by Jackie and Dollie McLean) in Hartford, CT where he makes his home (in West Hartford) with his wife, pianist/educator Mary DiPaola-Davis and children Tony, Angie and Nicky.

Claudia Acuna Quartet
Chilean singer/songwriter/arranger CLAUDIA ACUÑA possesses one of the most beautiful and compelling voices in jazz and creative music.  While singing primarily in Spanish, her music crosses language barriers to communicate with power and deep feeling.

Acuña was born in Santiago, Chile on July 31, 1971.   When she was quite young, her family moved first to the mining town of Rancagua and then to Concepcion, the site of a rich arts community.  A guitar was always around the house, as is the case in most South American homes, but her parents provided limited exposure to music and little encouragement when their daughter expressed an interest in the arts.  “They saw music as a hobby, not a career,” she says.  Yet once she heard recordings by Violeta Parra and Michael Jackson on the radio, she decided to become a singer.   “The family did not own a television, so my imagination became my own TV.  I began to fantasize about being in front of an audience, and would search the radio for things that moved me – from Parra and Michael Jackson to Earth, Wind and Fire to Mozart to movie musicals.  When I finally heard people like Erroll Garner and Thelonious Monk, I was drawn to the music’s freedom without knowing that what they played was called jazz.”

Teachers and friends who heard Acuña performing in school choirs and folk groups provided early encouragement, and helped her to find performing opportunities that would not antagonize her parents.  “I was the only member of a college choir who did not attend the college, for instance, and my parents approved of that because it was at a college.  When I became older, and chances to perform with rock or jazz groups arose, I’d start lying about going to a friend’s house.  I would also sneak into the conservatory on the way home from high school and try to memorize the lessons.  I would sing anything, and after people heard me sitting in and began to hire me, the money I made became the excuse to get work. “

In 1991, Acuña moved to Santiago, where she quickly became active recording jingles and doing voices for cartoons.  Her own musical concepts also began to develop, nurtured by an older professional couple she met who told her that she was really a jazz singer.   Listening to the vast record collection of these new friends and singing at their house in weekly sessions with older musicians left her inspired but frustrated, as she did not know people her age who shared her passion.  After seeing a film about the musicians and clubs in New York, and meeting touring musicians who visited Chile and provided encouragement, she found the necessary confidence to visit the United States.  “I was insecure, because I had not attended music school and did not speak English at the time; but I had enough confidence, plus a little bit of craziness, to follow my passion.  One day in 1995, I just said, `that’s it, I’m going to New York.’”

While Acuña had planned to study at one of the area’s jazz schools, she soon realized that tuition costs were prohibitive.  But she received encouragement when a teacher at one audition told her that she did not really need school, and that she could learn “the old fashion way” at the city’s jam sessions and clubs.  Following this advice, Acuña began to meet other young musicians and receive calls for gigs, many of which required that she function like another instrument in the ensemble.  “I felt more at home in New York than I ever felt in Chile,” she explains, “even though I didn’t speak the language well and was running out of money. “  A series of part-time jobs led to work on the staff at the Blue Note nightclub, where she heard many legendary artists who strengthened her determination to find an original voice.  “I had heard Dizzy Gillespie’s United Nation Orchestra in Chile, and felt that if he could embrace Latin music, then I could bring my own background to jazz.”

It was at the original Small’s in Greenwich Village, a hotbed of young talent, that Acuña made the greatest strides, meeting and working with such artists as Jeff Ballard, Avishai Cohen, Frank Hewitt, Guillermo Klein, Jimmie Lovelace, Brad Mehldau, Harry Whittaker and the man who became her musical director and closest collaborator, pianist Jason Lindner.  She was given a key to the club, which allowed her to rehearse on what became a daily basis.  After initiating an early gig at the Zinc Bar, offers from other Manhattan clubs and restaurants followed.  “Everyone was driven to explore, and was so supportive,” she recalls.  “It was like a little music gang.  I knew then that I had made the right decision, and had arrived at the right place.  I wasn’t in school, but every note I heard was a lesson.”

Record companies began to show interest in Acuña after a tape of one of her live performances began to circulate without her knowledge.  She was signed to Verve Records in 1999, where she recorded two albums, Wind from the South and Rhythm of Life.  A third disc, Luna, was recorded for MAXJAZZ in 2004, and her debut on the Marsalis Music label, En Este Momento, will be released in April 2009.  Acuña has also recorded and toured with a host of performers including George Benson, Joey Calderazzo, Billy Childs, Roy Hargrove, Tom Harrell, Christian McBride, Danilo Perez and Pablo Ziegler.  Over time, she has performed more of her material in her native language.   “I always promised myself that I would honor my background,” she says, “and I’ve gone from the point where there were always one or two songs in Spanish to where there are always one or two in English.  But I don’t want to lock myself into a formula because my growth has been organic, like a seed that produces more leaves, branches and flowers with each year.”

Acuña’s appointment as spokesperson for the child- focused relief agency World Vision Chile underscores her commitments beyond music.  “I heard about World Vision almost by accident, and grew more involved as I saw that the organization works,” she says.  “I’m interested in everything that involves sustaining mother earth, and children are a priority.  Any organization that does not just label children `delinquent,’ but serves their needs, I’ll be involved.”

Robby Ameen Latin Sextet
During the time that Robby Ameen has spent living in New York City since the early eighties he has compiled a recording career stretching from Dizzy Gillespie to Paul Simon, while maintaining a more than twenty year relationship with Latin icon Ruben Blades as a member of Seis del Solar. Although he is of Lebanese origin, Robby is best known for the unique and powerful Afro-Cuban jazz style he has developed. Growing up in New Haven, Connecticut, Robby was able to take advantage of his proximity to New York City by going to clubs and hearing many of the great jazz masters at a very young age. At the same time, he was involved in the local jazz and latin scene, as well as later attending Yale University, where he received a BA in literature. His jazz roots were strongly influenced by his studies with the great Ed Blackwell in high school, while in college he studied classical percussion with the renowned Fred Hinger.

Upon moving to New York, Robby began recording with flutist Dave Valentin and soon afterwards Ruben Blades, who was the first salsa singer to add a full-time drummer to his band, Seis del Solar. Another one of his early recordings was "New Faces" with Dizzy Gillespie, about whom Dizzy said in JazzTimes "Just the other day I made a record with a Lebanese drummer – b-a-a-d! He had so much happening, and it keeps going, you know?"

On the Latin scene Robby has recorded many records with Eddie Palmieri, as well as having toured or recorded with such luminaries as Mongo Santamaria, Paquito D'Rivera, Hilton Ruiz, and Willie Colon among many others. Robby was the drummer at Marc Anthony's historic first solo concert at Madison Square Garden.

Another one of Robby's longstanding relationships has been with producer-composer Kip Hanrahan, with whom he has been recording and touring since 1987. He was also the drummer for Paul Simon's "Capeman", with whom he worked through the long rehearsal period up until the recordings and the actual show, as well as VH1's "Storytellers" and part of the BAM's Paul Simon retrospective.. Robby also has toured and recorded extensively with Jack Bruce's "Cuicoland Express" band and is a longtime member of Conrad Herwig's oft Grammy-nominated " Latin Side of ..." band.

As a co-leader, Robby has recorded three records with the "El Negro and Robby Band" along side Horacio "el Negro" Hernandez. He also helped found the latin-jazz power trio "Overproof." Most recently Robby has released his "Days In The Life" solo project, composing and arranging most of the music.

Robby is the co-author with Lincoln Goines of the best-selling instructional book and CD: Funkifying the Clave: Afro Cuban Grooves for Bass and Drums, which has sold over 40,000 copies worldwide, and recently released the DVD Funkifying the Clave. Robby is an active clinician, performing at all the major drum festivals, including Modern Drummer Day, PAS, the Montreal DrumFest, FrankfurtMesse, and NAMM, to name a few.

Some of his various TV appearances include The Tonight Show, 60 Minutes, Amnesty International Concerts, Cinemax's "A Latino Special: feat. Jerry Garcia," "The Return of Ruben Blades" film, Good Morning America, PBS' Legends of Jazz, Europe's Rockpalast and Later with Jools Holland.

In addition, Robby is a longtime New York session player having done numerous jingles, TV music, and film scores with such composers as Dave Grusin, Carlos Franzetti, and Howard Shore, as well as having been the drummer for the "Sex and the City" series. Feature articles about Robby have appeared in such magazines as Modern Drummer, Drumhead Magazine, Rhythm, Latin Beat, Batteur, Percussionisti, among many others. Recently, Robby has been included in the New Grove Dictionary of Jazz.