Jorge Sylvester ACE (Afro Caribbean Experimental)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Glenn Siegel, 413-320-1089 [email protected] Pioneer Valley Jazz Shares presents: Jorge Sylvester ACE (Afro Caribbean Experimental) Collective Pioneer Valley Jazz Shares continues its 4th season with a performance by Jorge Sylvester ACE (Afro Caribbean Experimental) Collective featuring Sylvester , saxophone ; Nora McCarthy , vocals; Gene Torres , electric bass; Kenny Grohowski , drums, on Friday, December 11, 7:30pm, Parlor Room, 32 Masonic St., Northampton, MA. Single tickets ($15) available at www.jazzshares.org and at the door. Born in Colon, Panama, alto-saxophonist, composer, arranger and teacher Jorge Sylvester began his professional career at age 14, and was soon writing arrangements and compositions for his own Caribbean dance band. He studied privately with renowned Panamanian jazz saxophonist, Euclides Hall, before attending the Panama Conservatory of Music and the University of Panama. Sylvester arrived in New York City in 1980, where his blend of African-Caribbean rhythms with new music gave him a distinguished voice. Sylvester has performed with: Stefon Harris, the David Murray Big Band, poet Sekou Sundiata, the Black Rock Coalition Orchestra, the Oliver Lake Big Band, Kuumba Frank Lacy‘s Vibe Tribe, Joe Bowie‘s Defunkt Big Band and the World Saxophone Quartet. His latest ACE Collective release is Spirit Driven . A poet, songwriter and a highly original singer and improviser, Nora McCarthy has been an important force in the New York jazz vocal scene since 1996 when she recorded her first of eight CD’s, red&blue . She currently leads: The Nora McCarthy Trio, The HeartStrings Project, Nora McCarthy Qu’ART’et and its feminine counterpart, Nora McCarthy ♀u’ART’et, The Modern Voice Ensemble, and Jay Clayton’s cappella group, “Different Voices”. She was also a longstanding member of Lawrence “Butch” Morris’, A Chorus Of Poets. McCarthy has performed and recorded with Gunter Hampel’s European Trio, Jay Rodriguez, Craig Harris, Ken Filiano, Bill Ware, Donald Smith, Marvin Sewell, Dafnis Prieto and Francisco Mela. Born and raised in Brooklyn, Gene Torres picked up the bass at 15 years old and has not put it down since. Starting out playing R&B and funk in a band called Paranoid, Torres studied jazz privately and through the Jazzmobile program. His first recording, with James Mason’s Rhythm of Life, was made in 1977. He has since worked with Al Hibbler, Rahn Burton, Public Enemy, Yusef Lateef, Chico O’Farrill and the Chambers Brothers. He is also a producer, teacher and composer. Brought up in a musical household in Miami, drummer Kenny Grohowski has been performing since the age of 14. He has collaborated with Vernon Reid, Jason Lindner, John Zorn, Bobby Sanabria, Bill T. Jones, Cassandra Wilson, Giovanni Hidalgo, John Benitez and Bobby Valentin. Grohowski has been a member of bassist Lonnie Plaxico‘s band since 2003, and a member of Andy Milne‘s Dapp Theory since 2006. Since 2009, Grohowski has been a member of acclaimed Haitian singer/cultural figure Emeline Michel‘s Acoustic Quintet. Pioneer Valley Jazz Shares concerts are produced by a group of music lovers who have purchased jazz shares . Like farm shares, where stakeholders ensure the success of the farm by pre-paying for food, Pioneer Valley Jazz Share members purchase jazz shares to provide the capital needed to produce concerts with minimal institutional support. Operating under the fiscal sponsorship of The Northampton Center for the Arts, we are a grassroots, all-volunteer organization dedicated to the continued vitality of the music. Thanks to our business sponsors: Davis Financial Group, Florence Savings Bank, UMass Fine Arts Center, Downtown Sounds, Carol Abbe Smith Delap Real Estate, River Valley Co-op, Simmer Music, Bueno y Sano, Tony Margherita Management, Haydenville Woodworking & Design, Artisan Gallery, Amanouz Café, Clarion Hotel, Barbara Ween: Visage, Hampshire College and Dean’s Beans. .

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