Celebrate Cinco de Mayo with the BPO as Latin, rock and jazz rhythms and styles come together in a thrilling performance with the acclaimed Mambo Kings.
Artists Profiles
MAMBO KINGS-
This ensemble formed in 1995 by Richard DeLaney, are enjoying great success as Rochester's foremost Latin jazz ensemble, and have rapidly earned a national reputation for their explosive blend of Afro Cuban rhythms and jazz improvisation. Since their debut in 1997 with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and Conductor Jeff Tyzik, Mambo Kings have appeared as featured soloists at the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival and in concerts with the Baltimore, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Dallas, and Oregon Symphony Orchestras, among others, performing original compositions and arrangements by Richard DeLaney. The band was featured at the 2003 Rochester International Jazz Festival and reached the finals of the 2003 KennedyCenter / U.S. Department Of State Jazz Ambassadors national competition.
The 2007-08 season includes performances with the Detroit Symphony and a return trip to Vancouver, besides appearances at this Summer's Rochester International Jazz Fest, Music In The Mountains Festival in Colorado and the Historic Lewiston Jazz Festival in Lewiston, NY.
The group released their second CD, entitled Live!, in December of 2005. Their acclaimed first release, Marinera, received airplay in major markets throughout North America and Puerto Rico.
For more information, visit the band's website at www.mambokingdom.com
Musical Director Richard DeLaney, a native of Lima, Peru, has been active as a jazz pianist, arranger and composer in Rochester since earning a Master's Degree from the Eastman School Of Music in 1978. He was musical director and arranger for Orquesta La Muralla, Rochester's legendary salsa band, for fifteen years before starting Mambo Kings. Since 1985, he has taught piano and jazz piano at the Hochstein School of Music, where he also directs three student jazz ensembles.
Percussionist Wilfredo (Freddy) Colón (drums, timbales, bongos) has performed with Aretha Franklin, Tito Puente, Soneros Del Barrio, Johnny Rivera, El Cano and Paquito Acosta. He teaches percussion at the Eastman School Of Music's Community Education Division and is much in demand as a percussion clinician in the Greater Rochester area.
Saxophonist John Viavattine has been an accomplished woodwind specialist in Rochester for many years. John has toured with the Glenn Miller Orchestra, including a memorable performance in Washington, D.C. at President Reagan's 1980 Inaugural Ball. John has also performed with Chuck and Gap Mangione, Jeff Tyzik and the Rochester Philharmonic, The Temptations, Ray Charles, Patti Page, Connie Francis, Vic Damone and Lou Rawls.
Percussionist David Antonetti (congas) played for many years with Orquesta La Muralla including per-formances with Adalberto Santiago, Ismael Miranda and Ismael Quintana. He has backed up contemporary salsa stars Tito Allen, Cano Estremera, Hector Tricoche, and Luisito Rosario.
Bassist Hector Diaz has been playing with bands in the Western New York area since the age of thirteen. He has performed with Ismael Miranda, Hector Tricoche, "El Cano" Estremera, Paquito Acosta, Zafra Negra, Luisito Rosario, Wendell Rivera and Johnny Rivera. While in the Army, Hector toured with an All Soldiers show throughout Army bases in South Korea.
The Mambo Kings
