Arturo O’Farrill, piano/leader
Alejandro Aviles, flute
Adam O’Farrill, trumpet
Earl McIntyre, tuba
Neil Clarke, African percussion
Carlos Maldonado, Latin percussion
Zack O’Farrill, drums

Grammy Award winning pianist and composer Arturo O’Farrill — leader of the “first family of Afro-Cuban Jazz” (NY Times) — is the son of the late, great composer Chico O’Farrill. Arturo played in Carla Bley’s Big Band from 1979-83 and earned a reputation as a soloist in groups led by Dizzy Gillespie, Steve Turre, Freddy Cole, Lester Bowie, Wynton Marsalis and Harry Belafonte. After leading his late father’s orchestra for years, Arturo formed his own band, The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, and other groups in order to explore his and other compositions in the panoply of Afro-Latin music. The Boss Level Sextet comes from video-game slang for overcoming obstacles. “It’s like a metaphor for life,” O’Farrill says. “To reach the next level, sometimes you have to battle the boss.” The group’s adventurous repertoire includes “They Came” — a reggaetón-inspired piece by Jason Lindner, celebrating mestizo cultures of the New World.

Photo credit: Laura Marie Diliberto