Tributo
Director Musical
Latin Jazz Orchestra
Invítada Estelar
Keyboardist, composer and arranger Rafelito Mirabal. He was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic on February 12, 1962.
He studied and grew up in Santiago, he did his secondary studies at the Colegio de La Salle and graduated in Economics at the "PUCMM".
Most of his musical experience comes from self-taught practices and master private classes with Dominican and foreign teachers.
He has performed with almost every renowned group in the Dominican Republic since 1985 and has visited more than 25 countries.
Founder of the group Rafelito Mirabal & Sistema Temperado. Grouping that since 1987 has been playing the music of great
modern jazz composers like Pat Metheny, Joe Zawinul, John Scofield, Mike Stern, etc. but above all has his own compositions
that honor our Dominican roots by incorporating Pri-Pri, Gaga, Guloya, Pambiche, Classic and Typical Merengue and many
more to Jazz standards, such as his award-winning piece "Gagayas" and his innovative composition "Periblues".
Sistema Temperado has shared the stage with Mark Egan and Elements, Paquito de Rivera, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Néstor Torres,
Roberto Perera, Humberto Ramírez, Arturo Sandoval, Giovanni Hidalgo and others and has participated in festivals in
Montreal- Canada, Hannover-Germany, English Guyana , Alba-Italy, Brussels-Belgium and Port-au-Prince-Haiti.
The originality of the group and the style of fusing Dominican music and Folcklor with jazz and other genres, has given them
great success and a place of preference in the jazz-loving public. The composition "Periblues" (mixture of blues with typical
merengue), is an important part of the Dominican musical heritage recorded in 2000 by the Ministry of Tourism as part of the
"100 YEARS OF DOMINICAN MUSIC" and the composition "GAGAYAS" (fusion of the rhythm 'gaga' with jazz) won the
National Music Award Fradique Lizardo, 2005. In 2016 Rafelito Mirabal and Sistema Temperado achieved with success in the
5th installment of the South Florida Dominican Jazz Fest in Miami that payed homage to the legendary Dominican composer
Rafael "Bullumba" Landestoy.
A prodige of the great flautist Nestor Torres is resident of Brooklyn, NY, of Dominican
parents, Gabrielle Garo’ is a student of the flute, piccolo, alto, tenor,
and soprano saxophone. Having appeared on CBS, Brooklyn 45 TV, CBS’ “The Couch”
Morning how, Gabrielle is the 2015 International Women in Jazz Youth in Action Winner, the
2016 J. Marjory Jackson Scholarship Recipient, and has won a solo award in the Jazz at
Lincoln Center Essentially Ellington Regional Festival in Greenwich, CT, the Latin Grammy
Cultural Foundation Tuition Assistance Award, the A.F.J Leonard Silver Award, the Young
Academic Achiever Award, has been accepted into the National Junior Honor Society, The
National Honor Society for Dance Arts, and has participated in the world record breaking
event for the largest flute ensemble. She has studied with Nestor Torres, Kent Jordan,
Najee, Yosvany Terry, Jeff Lederer, Ted Nash, Keith Underwood, Keith Loftis, and Lorna
Myers, soloist at the Metropolitan Opera, and has performed with music greats, such as,
Larry Harlow, Esperanza Spalding, Christian McBride and his Big Band, Arturo Sandoval,
Candido Camero, Phoenix Rivera, Bobby Sanabria & his Multiverse Big Band, Arturo
O’Farrill and his Latin Jazz Orchestra, Kermit Ruffins, Craig Haynes, Ray Vega, Delfeayo
Marsalis & the Uptown Jazz Orchestra, Papo Vazquez, Alex Diaz, and James Galway just to
name a few.
Gracing the stage at the Apollo, Gabrielle has performed for T.I. and as a requested
backdrop in promotion for his album and movie release, and will also be featured in Spike
Lee’s Season 2 of “She’s Gotta Have It.” In addition, she has performed in the South Florida
Dominican Jazz Festival, Minton’s, Symphony Space for “A Night of Afro-Dominican Jazz”
where she participated in honoring and remembering, Mario Rivera, Birdland, SOB’s, the
Copacabana Nightclub, the Allen/Appel Room at Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Steinway Hall,
the Jazz Loft Party, the Litchfield Jazz Festival-2012, 2013, and more.
Currently, Gabrielle is a graduate of LaGuardia High School, where she is now studying at,
The New School for Jazz & Contemporary Music, in New York
City.
Performer of the Paraguaya electro acoustic harp. He began his studies in 1964
at the Modern Musical Center of his hometown of Montevideo, Uruguay.
His professional career began in 1973, when he moved to the city of Nueve York,
three years later he moved to the city of Miami to fulfill a contract that lasted for 8 years in a private club.
He made all his professional career from the United States and for more than 40 years I have his Paraguayan Harp
and his music in concerts around the world.
Winner of a Billboard Award for his album '' Sensual '' which was also nominated for a Latin Grammy.
He has recorded more than 10 CDs, of which 7 have been recorded with his band of 6 musicians. It not only interprets
the traditional and native melodies of South America, but also incorporates Latin, pop, Latin jazz, and Brazilian music.
The harpist always includes his original compositions that are the ones that really transform this harp of folkloric origin into a totally insurmountable
instrument because it is electro-acoustic.
Perera has shared the stage with groups such as Spyro Gyra, Yellow Jackets and artists such as Tito Puente, Chucho Valdez, and Arturo Sandoval.
He has recorded with Gloria Estefan, Paquito de Rivera and Nana Mouskuri.
He recently composed the song "Walk of Joy" for the documentary "La Casa Ausente" by director Rubén Abruña that is currently being shown in the USA, Europe and Asia.
An early child who began musical studies with five years under the tutelage of his father Tito, a saxophonist and conductor in Cuba.
At six years old, he was already acting in public. In 1958, D'Rivera, ten years old, triumphed at the National Theater in Havana, with the acclaim of the critics.
He entered the conservatory of his native city with 12 years to study Clarinet, composition and harmony.
In 1965, he was already a virtuoso. D'Rivera, with the pianist Valdez, founded the Cuban Orchestra of Modern Music, which he directed for two years.
They caused a sensation in 1978 at the Newport / New York and Montreaux jazz festivals, making history as the first Cuban musicians after Castro who edited an American label.
He gained immediate respect among jazz musicians and was introduced to the scene at some of the most prestigious concert halls in New York.
He made a gap among the greats after his first two albums Paquito Blowin (June 1981) and Mariel (July 1982).
During his career in the United States, D'Rivera's albums received critical acclaim and appeared on the charts.
He traveled all over the world with his own group, The Havana / New York Ensemble, Europe, Japan, South America, and the United States.
Married to singer Brenda Feliciano. In 2000 he published a memoir "My life sax", maestro D'Rivera was also part of the famous Cuban group IRAKERE.