William Cepeda Afro-Rican Jazz Octet

Afro-Rican Jazz is an original concept developed by trombonist and composer/arranger William Cepeda that celebrates the heritage of Puerto Rico music and its African roots while creating a new shade of jazz with a hip flavor, steeped in the jazz tradition (having performed with Dizzy Gillespie, Miriam Makeba, Lester Bowie, Jimmy Heath, and Donald Byrd, among others), Cepeda developed this unique artistic expression by incorporating a contemporary jazz perspective with the musical and cultural traditions of his homeland, Puerto Rico.

The band presents an innovative blend of jazz and traditional Puerto Rico musical forms such as bomba, plena, Jibaro, and danza, inspired in part by his family of five generations preserving Afro-Puerto Rican music.

There will not be a dance lesson for this program.