Elio Villafranca
Jazz Road Creative Residencies Grant Recipient
Recipient Information
Location
Bronx, New York
Year of Award
2021
Grant or Fellowship
Jazz Road Creative Residencies Grant
Grant Amount
$40,000
About the Project
To bring the 10-piece Jass Syncopators to Sonido Musica and String Village students in Springfield, MA for a residency centering on the Yoruba and Arara cultures intersections with jazz. Music will be recorded for final video presentation, in-person and streamed.
Residency Location
Springfield, MA
About the Artist
Born in the province of Pinar del Río, Cuba, Steinway Artist pianist and composer Elio Villafranca is a 2021 Guggenheim, two-time Grammy nominee, winner of the 2018 Downbeat Critic’s Poll Rising Stars in the Keyboard Category, a 2017 recipient of The Sunshine Award (founded in 1989 to recognize excellence in the performing arts, education, science, and sports of the various Caribbean countries, South America, Central America, and Africa), and a recipient in 2014 of the first Jalc Millennium Swing Award!
Elio Villafranca was classically trained in piano, percussion, and composition at the Instituto Superior de Arte in Havana, Cuba, and since his arrival in the U.S., he is at the forefront of the latest generation of remarkable pianists, composers, and bandleaders. In 2018, Elio’s double album CINQUE received a Grammy Nomination at the 61st Grammy Award for Best Latin Jazz Album, and later in that year, Elio Villafranca was guest pianist and composer with the Miami Symphony Orchestra, conducted by maestro Eduardo Marturete. His previous recording, Caribbean Tinge, released in 2014 by Motema Records, received that year a Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik Nomination by the German Records Critics Award and was selected by JazzTimes and DownBeat magazines for a feature on their very competitive section, Editor’s Pick. In 2014 Villafranca was also among the five pianists hand-picked by pianist Chick Corea to perform at the first Chick Corea Jazz Festival, curated by Corea himself at Jazz at Lincoln Center, NYC. In 2009, Elio received his first Grammy Nomination at the 52nd Grammy Awards, also in the Best Latin Jazz Album of the Year category.
In 2008 The Jazz Corner nominated Elio Villafranca as ""Pianist of the Year,"" and the same year he was also honored by BMI with the BMI Jazz Guaranty Award and received the first NFA/Heineken Green Ribbon Master Artist Music Grant ever created, for the composition of his Concerto for Mariachi, for Afro-Cuban Percussion and Symphony Orchestra. Finally, his debut album, Incantations/Encantaciones was ranked amongst the 50 Best Jazz Albums of the year by JazzTimes magazine in 2003. Over the years, Villafranca has recorded and performed nationally and internationally as a leader, featuring artists such as Pat Martino, Wynton Marsalis, Christian McBride, Paquito D’Rivera, Chick Corea, Jon Faddis, and Johnny Pacheco, among others. He is jazz faculty at The Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, and NYU.