January 15, 2015
Afro-Cuban jazz trio to perform Jan. 23
The School of Music opens the spring 2015 semester with a visit from Fidel Morales and the Fidel Morales Afro-Cuban Jazz Trio.
The trio presents a concert beginning at 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 23 in the Quigley Hall auditorium. The repertoire will feature mostly original pieces by Morales as well as arrangements of time favored jazz classics. Admission is $6 for the general audience and free for SIU music students and faculty.
Morales will also teach a master class at 10 a.m. on Jan. 23, focusing on Afro-Cuban music and jazz in Altgeld Hall, Room 117. There is no charge for the master class.
”This is a rare opportunity for the students and community to learn directly from one of the pioneers of the modern Cuban popular music better known as ‘timba,’ ” Isaac Lausell, head of the guitar program at SIU, said.
Morales is a drummer and percussionist from Havana, Cuba. He is a professor at the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music. He has performed with a variety of respected artists, and contributed to the CD “Bajando Gervasio,” by Amadito Valdés, a 2004 Grammy nominee. Morales is preparing for the release of his own CD, his third album “Omío.”
The trio includes Gabriel Rodriguez, from San Juan, Puerto Rico. Rodriguez has three record releases under his name and two Grammy nominated projects as a member of Charlie Sepulveda’s group. He is also the jazz bass professor also at the Conservatory.
Lausell rounds out the trio.
The SIU Fine Arts Fee contributed funding for this event.