The Original Influencers: Dizzy, Chano & Chico (Live at Town Hall)

Arturo O'Farill & The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra Featuring Pedrito Martinez, Dayme Arocena, Jon Faddis, Donald Harrison, Melvis Santa

New Live Album (Released August 28 / Tiger Turn) Celebrates The Groundbreaking Collaboration Between Dizzy Gillespie and Chano Pozo That Birthed Latin Jazz

October 14, 2025 - - 6-time GRAMMY winner and 2-time Latin GRAMMY winner Arturo O'Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra's new album - The Original Influencers: Dizzy, Chano & Chico (Live At Town Hall) - celebrates the groundbreaking collaboration between Dizzy Gillespie and Chano Pozo, a watershed moment that birthed Latin jazz, and historic works such as "Manteca." The new album, a concert recorded in 2023 at New York City's The Town Hall, was released August 28 on Tiger Turn.

In January of 2023, Arturo O'Farrill's Afro Latin Jazz Alliance and The Town Hall put on a concert to celebrate the 75th anniversary of a monumental moment: when jazz met the rhythms of Cuba and changed the face of modern music forever. In 1947, Dizzy Gillespie, one of the great trumpeters, bandleaders and composers of all time, was looking for a new percussionist for a forthcoming concert at Carnegie Hall. He was introduced by his friend Mario Bauza to Chano Pozo, the Cuban master conga player, singer and composer. The Carnegie Hall concert and subsequent creations created a new genre and altered the landscape of both jazz and Cuban music. The Town Hall concert and new live album release is additionally a celebration of the role that O'Farrill's father, Chico O'Farrill, played in this musical evolution. Chico O'Farrill, a Cuban-born legend in Latin jazz who wrote and arranged for Count Basie, Machito, and Stan Getz, would join with Dizzy Gillespie to become one of the main arrangers and orchestra leaders of Latin jazz. Arturo O'Farrill's concert features a performance of the "Manteca Suite," a rearrangement by Chico of Gillespie, Pozo and Gil Fuller's classic.

The recording captures the 18-piece Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, led by O'Farrill on piano, as well as special guests Pedrito Martínez on percussion (two of Martinez's compositions are performed), Jon Faddis on trumpet (a mentee of Dizzy Gillespie), Donald Harrison on saxophone, the singers Daymé Arocena and Melvis Santa, and O'Farrill's two sons, Adam and Zack, on trumpet and drums.

"Town Hall has been the site for countless historic jazz encounters. Amongst the visionaries that insisted that Jazz and Latin were not separate genres but branches of the same musical trunk were Dizzy Gillespie, Chano Pozo, and Chico O'Farrill. This recording pays tribute to those original influencers and their modern day manifestation in the work of today's brightest Afro Latino Jazz practitioners. Thank you to The Town Hall, musicians, guests, and most of all, listeners who come equipped with wide open ears and hearts!" - Arturo O'Farrill

Listen to The Original Influencers: Dizzy, Chano & Chico(Live At Town Hall)

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Tracklist:

1. La Rumba Me Llamo Yo
2. On The Corner of Malecon and Bourbon
3. Legnua de Obbara
4. Mambo Na' Ma
5. Acknowledgements
6. Manteca Suite - Movement 1
7. Manteca Suite - Movement 2
8. Manteca Suite - Movement 3
9. Manteca Suite - Movement 4

For more information, please contact Chris Taillie at

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