“César Orozco manages to make the best combination between Cuban, Jazz and Venezuelan music I ever heard”. Paquito D’Rivera
César Orozco is a Cuban born pianist, violinist, composer, arranger, producer, and educator based in the NYC Tri-State area. In 1997, Orozco traveled from Cuba to Venezuela, where he spent 14 years and developed an important and prolific career. In 2012, Orozco moved to the United States and enrolled with a full tuition Assistantship to The Peabody Institute of John Hopkins University in Baltimore, where he earned a Graduate Performance Diploma (GPD) in Jazz Piano. He also holds a degree in Violin Performance and Ensemble Conducting from the National School of Arts in Havana, Cuba. Since relocating to New York in 2015, Mr. Orozco has become an in-demand pianist. Some of the artists he has worked with include Paquito D’Rivera, Pedrito Martinez, Gary Thomas, Alex Norris, Troy Roberts, Paul Bollenback, Itai Kriss & Telavana, Albita Rodriguez, Guaco, Gilberto Santa Rosa, Luis Enrique, Huascar Barradas, Simon Diaz, and Giovanni Hidalgo just to name a few. He has participated in more than 70 albums including six as a solo artist.
As an arranger and/or composer, Mr. Orozco has been commissioned by The Baltimore School for The Arts, the Chamber String Orchestra from the MCYO at Strathmore in Maryland, The Netherlands Blazers Ensemble (NBE), Raíces Jazz Orchestra from Miami FL, the Venezuela Symphony Orchestra, and the Frankfurt Radio Big Band among others. In 2019, he was nominated for “Best Arrangement” at the 20th Latin Grammy awards for his piece “Imprevisto”, performed and recorded by Pablo Gil & The Raices Jazz Orchestra featuring the great percussionist Tony Succar.
Kamarata Jazz is Orozco's main project, who created it back in 2006 while living in Venezuela. It was originally conceived as a quintet: piano, electric bass, drums, percussion and Venezuelan cuatro. Currently, the group alternates with performances as a trio, quartet, and quintet using a saxophone instead of the cuatro, or eventually also as a sextet including both, cuatro and saxophone. With Kamarata Jazz, Orozco has developed an innovative approach to a fusion of Venezuelan and Cuban traditional music with Jazz and other genres such as flamenco, tango, and bossa nova. The core of the repertoire is based mostly on Orozco’s original compositions, as well as arrangements of well-known Venezuelan and Cuban pieces from the traditional repertoire. César Orozco & Kamarata Jazz discography includes “Son con Pajarillo” (2007, self-release), “Orozcojam” (Guataca, 2010, awarded for Best vocal/Instrumental album at Cubadisco 2012), “No Limits for Tumbao” (Alfi Records, 2015) and the latest one "Rooted Forward", which was released in October, 2020.
No music charge, $40 food & drink minimum per person. Reservations strongly recommended