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Dafnis Prieto
Various awards include a 2011 MacArthur Fellowship, Up & Coming Musician of the Year from the Jazz Journalists Association in 2006, a GRAMMY nomination for Absolute Quintet as Best Latin Jazz Album, and a Latin GRAMMY nomination for Best New Artist in 2007. Also a gifted educator, Prieto has conducted master classes, clinics, and workshops throughout the world. He was a faculty member of Jazz Studies at NYU from 2005 to 2014, and in 2015 became a faculty member at the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami.
Since his arrival to New York in 1999, Prieto has worked in bands led by Henry Threadgill, Steve Coleman, Eddie Palmieri, Chico and Arturo O’Farrill, Dave Samuels and The Caribbean Jazz Project, Jane Bunnett, D.D. Jackson, Edward Simon, Michel Camilo, Chucho Valdés, Bebo Valdés, Roy Hargrove, Don Byron, and Andrew Hill, among others. He has performed at many national and international music festivals as a sideman and as a bandleader featuring several of his own projects and music.
As a composer, he has created music for dance, film, chamber ensembles, and most notably for his own bands, ranging from duets to big band, and including the distinctively different groups featured on seven acclaimed recordings as a leader: About The Monks, Absolute Quintet, Taking the Soul For a Walk, Si o Si Quartet: Live at Jazz Standard, Dafnis Prieto Proverb Trio, Triangles and Circles, and Back to the Sunset. He has received commissions, grants, and fellowships from Chamber Music America, Jazz at Lincoln Center, East Carolina University, and Meet the Composer. In 2016 Prieto published the critically acclaimed drumming instructional book, A World of Rhythmic Possibilities: Drumming Lessons and Reflections on Rhythms.
Prieto is the founder of the independent music company Dafnison Music. He endorses Yamaha Drums, Sabian Cymbals, Latin Percussion, Evans Drumheads, and Vic Firth Sticks.
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Shelly Berg: Alegria
by Pierre Giroux
Shelly Berg's Alegria is a journey through the landscapes of love, joy and reflection. Joined by longtime collaborators bassist Carlitos Del Puerto and drummer Dafnis Prieto, along with tenor saxophonist Melvin Butler on a couple of tracks, Berg creates a sound that is bustling and approachable. The eleven tracks release are predominately Berg originals, with two reinterpretations of classics from Leonard Bernstein and The Beatles, each designed to offer a narrative that reflects Berg's connection to ...
Continue ReadingLuciana Souza and Dafnis Prieto in Conversation and Song
by David Bixler
After the GRAMMY-winning album, Back to the Sunset, and his pandemic sextet project, Transparency, drummer and composer Dafnis Prieto was in search of something new. This journey brought him back to his roots and he again began to compose songs with lyrics as he did in his youth. Collaborating with Brazilian vocalist Luciana Souza he has created his latest project, Cantar. I am joined in this episode with both Luciana and Dafnis as they talk about the genesis and future of this unique project. this episode features ...
Continue ReadingDafnis Prieto: I'm a drummer because I love melody
by David Bixler
Composer and percussionist Dafnis Prieto's new recording Transparency features a front line of saxophonists Román Filiú and Peter Apfelbaum, along with Alex Norris on trumpet. In this episode of Liner Notes, Prieto speaks about his intentions behind this recording as well the fortunate timing that allowed him to capture the project immediately before the shutdown. This episode also features music from Dafnis Prieto's Transparency. ...
Continue ReadingToday’s Latin Big Bands: Dafnis Prieto, Arturo O’Farrill, Miguel Zenon, David Murray, Antonio Adolpho and Bobby Sanabria
by Russell Perry
Cuban influences have been heard in jazz since the 1940s. The 1960s brought significant Brazilian sounds into the music. Today, musicians from throughout Latin America are shaping the music, never more vibrantly than in large Latin ensembles. Latin Big Bands lead by Dafnis Prieto, Arturo O'Farrill, Miguel Zenon, David Murray, Arturo O'Farrill and Bobby Sanabria in this hour of Jazz at 100 Today! Playlist Host Intro 0:00 Dafnis Prieto Big Band A Triumphant Journey" from Back to the ...
Continue ReadingDafnis Prieto Sextet: Transparency
by John Chacona
In Cuban music, emotional grandeur and extravagant virtuosity is built on a foundation of inexhaustible rhythm. So, it's no surprise to find an abundance of juicy melodies and breathtaking drumming on Transparency from drummer and MacArthur Genius" Fellow Dafnis Prieto. Yet for all the astonishing things he does behind the kit, what stands out on Transparency is the dazzling formal sophistication of Prieto's compositions. Eight of the nine composer credits are his and the outlier, an arrangement of ...
Continue ReadingDafnis Prieto Big Band: Back to the Sunset
by Troy Dostert
The astonishingly talented and prolific drummer Dafnis Prieto has done a lot since moving to the States from his native Cuba in 1999. He's made a host of sideman appearances with musicians of widely varying stripes, including Peter Apfelbaum, Michel Camilo, Steve Coleman, Marilyn Lerner, Brian Lynch, Henry Threadgill, Chucho Valdés, and John Zorn. He won a MacArthur genius" grant in 2011. He published an influential instructional guide, A World of Rhythmic Possibilities, in 2016. And he's recorded a significant ...
Continue ReadingDafnis Prieto Big Band: Back to the Sunset
by Jack Bowers
The alliance of Latin music and American jazz ripened on these shores more than seventy years ago, nourished by pioneers such as Mario Bauza, Chano Pozo, Dizzy Gillespie, Machito, Tito Puente and others. It has been carried forward and enhanced since then by a succession of remarkable innovators including in recent years the Cuban-born drummer Dafnis Prieto who has chosen on his seventh recording as leader to honor a number of his forebears and musical heroes in a big-band format. ...
Continue ReadingDebut Release from Dafnis Prieto Proverb Trio
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Two for the Show Media
DAFNIS PRIETO PROVERB TRIO KOKAYI vocals JASON LINDNER keyboards DAFNIS PRIETO drums DAFNISON MUSIC Everything was improvised," says Dafnis Prieto. We did the entire album in six hours." He's speaking about DAFNIS PRIETO PROVERB TRIO, the eponymous album that's about to be released on Prieto's label Dafnison Music. The group made its debut in 2009 at the Whitney Museum in New York, but this is their first album, recorded after more than ...
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Debut Release from Dafnis Prieto Proverb Trio - Coming July 17, 2012
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Two for the Show Media
New release, coming July 17, 2012: the debut album by the DAFNIS PRIETO PROVERB TRIO KOKAYI vocals JASON LINDNER keyboards DAFNIS PRIETO drums Everything was improvised," says Dafnis Prieto. We did the entire album in six hours." He's speaking about DAFNIS PRIETO PROVERB TRIO, the eponymous album that's about to be released on Prieto's label Dafnison Music. The group made its debut in 2009 at the Whitney Museum in New York, but this is their first ...
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Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Announces Grant to Newport Festivals Foundation, Inc.
Source:
Carolyn McClair Public Relations
Percussionist Dafnis Prieto Commissioned to Write New Composition to Debut at 2012 Newport Jazz Festival NEWPORT, RI, November 16, 2011The Newport Festivals Foundation, Inc. has been awarded a 29-month Arts Program grant in the amount of $50, 000 from Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (DDCF) to support presentations by DDCF grantees at the Newport Jazz Festival® during 2011-2013. Percussionist Dafnis Prieto has been commissioned to compose a new piece for his sextet to debut at the 2012 Festival, which is set ...
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Exploring Dafnis Prieto, 2011 MacArthur Fellow: Prieto as Composer
Source:
The Latin Jazz Corner by Chip Boaz
Dafnis Prieto recently was honored as a 2011 MacArthur Fellow, being recognized for excellence in his artistic pursuits. From his studies in Cuba to his professional work in New York, Prieto has always been a musician committed to outstanding artistry and pushing the limits of his creative energy. This cutting edge attitude has led to a burst of Latin Jazz excitement, but not in the standard ways that one might expect. Prieto has shown himself to be a technically astounding ...
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Exploring Dafnis Prieto, 2011 MacArthur Fellow: Prieto as Sideman
Source:
The Latin Jazz Corner by Chip Boaz
Dafnis Prieto recently was honored as a 2011 MacArthur Fellow, being recognized for excellence in his artistic pursuits. From his studies in Cuba to his professional work in New York, Prieto has always been a musician committed to outstanding artistry and pushing the limits of his creative energy. This cutting edge attitude has led to a burst of Latin Jazz excitement, but not in the standard ways that one might expect. Prieto has shown himself to be a technically astounding ...
read more
Exploring Dafnis Prieto, 2011 Macarthur Fellow: Prieto as Bandleader
Source:
The Latin Jazz Corner by Chip Boaz
Dafnis Prieto recently was honored as a 2011 MacArthur Fellow, being recognized for excellence in his artistic pursuits. From his studies in Cuba to his professional work in New York, Prieto has always been a musician committed to outstanding artistry and pushing the limits of his creative energy. This cutting edge attitude has led to a burst of Latin Jazz excitement, but not in the standard ways that one might expect. Prieto has shown himself to be a technically astounding ...
read more
Two for the Show Media Artist Dafnis Prieto Named Macarthur Fellow.
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Two for the Show Media
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has named Dafnis Prieto, a drummer and composer with gripping rhythmic command and an original vision of Latin jazz, as one of 22 new MacArthur Fellows for 2011. In a phone call he received upon returning from a European tour, Prieto learned he had received the award worth $500,000, distributed quarterly over five years. The MacArthur Fellowship, often unofficially called the genius grant," comes with no restrictions on spending, as it is ...
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MacArthur 'genius' grants go to cellist, architect, jazz musician
Source:
Michael Ricci
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation on Tuesday announced new MacArthur fellows for 2011. The arts honorees include architect Jeanne Gang of Chicago, cellist Alisa Weilerstein, jazz musician Dafnis Prieto and choral conductor and composer Francisco Nunez, all of New York. Each of the so-called genius" fellows receives $500,000 in no-strings-attached support over the next five years," according to the foundation. The money comes without stipulations or reporting requirements," and is intended to give the fellows a wide ...
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Marsalis Berklee Jams Continues with Dafnis Prieto Si O Si Quartet
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Michael Ricci
The special guest for the latest Marsalis Berklee Jams is the Dafnis Prieto Si o Si Quartet, led by Cuban-born drummer, composer, and two-time Grammy nominee Prieto. The band's new album, Live at Jazz Standard, is set to be released next month, and on October 14 and 15 the Si o Si Quartet will be at Berklee's Cafe 939 to perform a set and follow with a jam session open to all Berklee students. The concerts and jam sessions are ...
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From Babble to Rhythm, Cuban Style
Source:
Michael Ricci
Near the close of his roughly hourlong concert at the Museum of Modern Art on Sunday night, Dafnis Prieto stepped out from behind his drum kit with a pair of claves in hand. He struck up a familiar pattern--the syncopated heartbeat, also called clave, that underpins virtually all Afro-Cuban music--and proceeded to scat in a polysyllabic babble. His utterances, however madcap, had a serious intent: all those consonant-studded phrases and skittering inflections evoked the clangor of a full percussion section. ...
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