Omar Sosa Quarteto Afrocubano to Play Two Shows at Music Hall's Jazz Cafe

Omar Sosa returns to Jazz Cafe for 2 blistering sets of his trademark blend of African-Cuban Latin Jazz, Funk and Futurism, with his incendiary, Omar Sosa Quarteto Afrocubano, Wednesday, October 11 for two shows at 8 and 10 PM.

Composer-pianist-bandleader Omar Sosa was born in 1965 in Camagüey, Cuba's largest inland city. At age 8, Omar began studying percussion and marimba at the music conservatory in Camagüey; in Havana, as a teenager, he took up piano at the prestigious Escuela Nacional de Música, and completed his formal education at the Instituto Superior de Arte in Havana. Among his influences, Omar cites traditional Afro-Cuban music, European classical composers (including Chopin, Bartok, and Satie), Monk, Coltrane, Parker, Oscar Peterson, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett, Chucho Valdés, and the pioneering Cuban jazz group Irakere. Moving in 1993 to Ecuador, Omar immersed himself in the folkloric traditions of Esmeraldas, the northwest coast region whose African heritage includes the distinctive marimba tradition. He relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1995, and soon invigorated the Latin jazz scene with his adventurous writing and percussive style.

Annually performing upwards of 100 concerts on six continents, Omar has appeared in venues as diverse as the Blue Note (New York, Milan, and Tokyo), Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall, Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Arts, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Walker Art Center, the Getty Center, London's Barbican and Queen Elizabeth Hall, Glasgow's Royal Concert Hall, and Berlin's Haus der Kulturen der Welt; festivals including Monterey Jazz, JVC Jazz, Montreal Jazz, Marciac Jazz, North Sea Jazz, Helsinki, Grenoble Jazz, Montreux Jazz, Naples Jazz, Ravenna Jazz, Roma Jazz, Spoletto, WOMAD, and Cape Town International Jazz; and universities on several continents, including a visiting artist fellowship at Princeton University in March 2008, and a visiting artist residency at Dartmouth College in April 2008. Omar will return to Dartmouth College for a second artist residency in February 2011.

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Mr. Sosa received a lifetime achievement award from the Smithsonian Associates in Washington, DC in 2003 for his contribution to the development of Latin jazz in the United States. He has received two nominations from the BBC Radio 3 World Music Awards, in 2004 and 2006, both in the 'Americas' category. In 2003 Omar Sosa received the Afro-Caribbean Jazz Album of the Year Award from the Jazz Journalists Association in NYC for his recording Sentir; and a nomination from the Jazz Journalists Association for Latin Jazz Album of the Year in 2005 for his recording Mulatos.

IF YOU GO:

Omar Sosa Quarteto AfroCubano

Featuring:

Leandro Saint-Hill, saxophone, flute

Childo Tomas, electric bass

Raul Pineda, drums

At Jazz Café at Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts, 350 Madison, Detroit, MI 28226

Tickets: $35 (Includes Preservation fee) - may be purchased though Music Hall Box Office at 313-887-8500 or online at ticketmaster.com.

Call (313) 887-8500 or visit www.musichall.org for more information.

Omar Sosa Quarteto Afrocubano is a part of Music Hall's AROUND THE WORLD Series.

Built in 1928 by Matilda Dodge Wilson, Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts is a cultural gem in Detroit's entertainment crown, and has been presenting 88 years of legendary artists and performances from Flo Ziegfeld and Follies and WC Fields, to Billie Holliday, Duke Ellington, MiLes Davis, DEVO, The Pretenders and Marcel Marceau to name but a few of the diverse performers who have graced our stage. It has been home to both the DSO (The famous radio broadcasts of "The Ford Hour" were performed here) and the Opera Theater as well, not to also mention that we were the first theater fit for Cinerama in Michigan.

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