Mon Oct 14
Live Stream - Melvis Santa and Jazz Orishas - Cuban Piano Jazz Series
7PM / Free | Fees Get Tickets
Melvis Santa and Jazz Orishas
Recording Release
The Jazz Orishas quintet is Melvis Santa’s most recent band. Orishas are Afro-Cuban deities that represent essences of nature and our shared humanity. Jazz, stemmed also from African roots, originated as a music of liberation. Join Melvis's Jazz Orishas for their first album CD release concert, as she bring this connection to new spaces through original composition and storytelling, while centering the women’s perspective in Afro-Cuban Jazz music of today.Melvis Santa - piano, vocals and percussion Rafael Monteagudo - drums Rashaan Carter - bass Vinicius Gomes - guitar Josh Evans - trumpet
Accomplished singer, pianist, composer and percussionist Melvis Santa was born and raised in an eclectic neighborhood of Havana, Cuba within a multicultural family. Her creative practice and vision integrate life experiences into her music and center the female perspective on Afro-Cuban culture.
Well known in Cuba since she was fourteen, Melvis formed the all-female vocal quartet Sexto Sentido, dubbed by Chucho Valdés “the best vocal quartet of the last 30 years.” In 2010 joined the seminal timba-funk fusion band Interactivo as a lead vocalist, recording and touring worldwide. Later, Melvis spread wings and formed her own group, Santa Habana, also the title of her first album as a bandleader, which obtained a 2012 Cubadisco Nomination, “the Cuban Grammy” awards.
Currently based in New York, Melvis continues to make a mark as a performer and educator across the US, as well as in Europe, Australia and Latinoamerica. She has guest-lectured at NYU, Fordham University and has been an artist-in-residence programs at UArts’s Creative Jazz Institute, Boulder University and Chicago Jazz Philharmonic. Her prolific work as a bandleader encompasses diverse projects Ashedi Ellas-Son, La Rumba de Santa, and most recently, Jazz Orishas. These bands have showcased in distinctively on NYC’s iconic venues like Birdland, Minton’s, Lincoln Center, Zinc Bar, The Jazz Gallery, National Jazz Museum in Harlem, BRIC Jazz Festival and Newport Jazz Festival.
Since 2021 Melvis is the vocalist of Kenny Garrett’s band Sounds From The Ancestors. Collaborations include Nashheet Waits, Cassandra Wilson, Sonia Sanchez, Charles Tolliver, Andy Bey, Ravi Coltrane, Steve Coleman, Arturo O’Farrill & ALJA, Chucho Valdes, Buena Vista Social Club, Muñequitos de Matanzas, Rumberos de Cuba, Xiomara Laugart, David Virelles, Roman Diaz, Pedrito Martinez, Brooklyn Raga Massive, Gilles Peterson and Josh Evans Big Band.
Co-Presented with the Embassy of Cuba
7PM / Free | Fees Get Tickets
1. Final sale, no refunds, not transferable.
2. $15 food/beverage minimum per person not included in ticket price.
3. Seating first come at the door. Doors open 6 PM & 8:45 PM respectively.
4. Photography or Recording of any kind is prohibited during the performance.
5. Keep conversation to a minimum during the performance.