Free Bridge Quintet presents Cafe Caribe: An Evening of Afro-Caribbean Jazz
The Free Bridge Quintet presents Cafe Caribe: An Evening of Afro-Caribbean Jazz on Saturday, March 28th at 8:00 p.m. in Old Cabell Hall. The group will perform with special guest and long-time friend and collaborator Kevin Davis. Mr. Davis is a latin percussionist, pianist, singer, dancer, bandleader extraordinaire (Ban Caribe,) and a prolific composer and arranger. The six musicians will explore the influence of Caribbean musical traditions on the U.S. jazz scene, performing music from Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. The Quintet will play works from Afro-Cuban jazz luminaries Chano Pozo, Cachao, Mongo Santamaria, Tito Puente and from the jazz musicians they influenced such as Dizzy Gillespie, Kenny Dorham, Sonny Rollins, and Donald Grolnick.
The Free Bridge Quintet is the faculty jazz quintet of the University of Virginia’s McIntire Department of Music. Founded in 1997, it features Jeff Decker on saxophones, Robert Jospé on the drums, Peter Spaar on bass, John D’earth on trumpet and flugelhorn, and Butch Taylor on piano. The group has been a staple of UVA and Charlottesville music, and the greater east coast jazz scene for seventeen years. The inclusion of Kevin Davis highlights the fact that the Free Bridge members have collaborated on each other’s individual projects for decades and Kevin Davis has been part of many of those collaborations.
“I have been working with Kevin for over two decades,” says Free Bridge trumpeter John D’earth. “He has been a mentor to me in latin music and rhythm; also in piano and arranging. I think that’s true for some of the other Free Bridge members as well.”
Tickets are $15 for the general public, $5 for students and free for UVA Students who reserve in advance. Tickets can be purchased by calling the Arts Box Office at 434.924.3376 or visiting artsboxoffice.virginia.edu.
Old Cabell Hall is located on the south end of UVA's historic lawn, directly opposite the Rotunda. Parking is available in the central grounds parking garage on Emmet Street, in the C1 parking lot off McCormick Rd, and in the parking lots at the UVA Corner. Handicap parking is available in the small parking lot adjacent to Bryan Hall.
All programs are subject to change.