The Embassy of the United States presents Jazz Without Borders in April

The Embassy of the United States presents Jazz Without Borders in April
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, 04/02/2014

In honor of the Jazz Appreciation Month, on April 2 – 4, the Embassy of the United States of America will present Jazz Without Borders on tour with Paul Austerlitz and his Dominican Ensemble.
The compositions by Paul Austerlitz and his Dominican Ensemble are characterized by the musical and cultural rhythms shared between the United States and the island of Hispaniola, where jazz, merengue, folk rhythms and music based on popular religion are mixed.

The concert by Paul Austerlitz and his Dominican Ensemble will be presented free of charge on Wednesday, April 2nd at Las Terrazas del Mesón in Santo Domingo, at 8:00 pm. Also, the band will give a concert open to the public on Thursday, April 3rd at the Loyola Polytechnic of San Cristóbal, at 6 pm, and on Friday, April 4th the concert will take place in the Auditorium of the Mauricio Báez Cultural Center in Santo Domingo, at 7 pm.

During the Jazz Without Borders tour, the band will participate in a master class at the National Conservatory of Music and will hold meetings with local music students at the Loyola Polytechnic Institute of San Cristóbal and at the Mauricio Báez Cultural Center in Villa Juana.

Dr. Paul Austerlitz is a musician, composer, Ethnomusicologist, saxophonist and clarinetist, and has conducted extensive research on traditional music in the Dominican Republic and in Haiti.

On this occasion, he will be accompanied by his renowned quintet of Dominican musicians: José Duluc on percussion and vocals; Julio Figueroa on percussion and vocals; Wellington Valenzuela on drums; Hector Santana on bass; and Gustavo Rodríguez at the piano.

In 2010, the U.S. Embassy hosted a videoconference with Austerlitz on “The African Influence in the Dominican and American Music” in which musicians, music teachers and folklorists participated.

Paul Austerlitz combines his experience as an Ethnomusicologist specializing in Afro-Caribbean music with his creative work as a jazz musician. As an instrumentalist, he has devoted himself to mastering bass and double bass clarinets. He also plays soprano clarinet and tenor saxophone. As a composer, Austerlitz has its roots in jazz and Ethnomusicology, incorporating music genres on which he conducts research. He has been very successful in mixing Latin and Caribbean music from the Dominican Republic and elsewhere with free jazz forms.

Austerlitz has worked with musicians such as Julius Hemphill, Dave Murray, Don Byron, Roswell Rudd, Jimmy Knepper, Ed Blackwell, and Gunter Hampel, poet Michael Harper, the Haitian voodoo-jazz group Fula, and the African jazz group Kwaku Kwaakye Obeng.
Austerlitz studied music with Bill Dixon, Milford Graves, Dave Liebman and Frank Wess and received a Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology from Wesleyan University in 1993.

Currently, Paul Austerlitz and his band give concerts in New York, Finland, Norway, the Dominican Republic and Haiti.
Repertoire

Paul Austerlitz and his Dominican Ensemble venture into jazzed fused with Caribbean and Dominicans rhythms.

“Legba nan baye a” (A Haitian traditional piece, with arrangements by Austerlitz)

“Undergound Palo” (Composed by Austerlitz with rhythms of Afro-Dominican sticks)

“Thunder Peace” (Composed by Austerlitz, with rhythms of Afro-Dominican Pri-Pri)

“La empalizá” (Traditional Dominican piece of merengue)

“Anonse” (Traditional Haitian piece with arrangements by Austerlitz)

“Funk-Ay-Be_Sea” (Composed by Austerlitz)

“Juanita Morel” (Traditional piece of Dominican merengue)