DOORS @6PM, SHOWTIME @7PM
The One-World Jazz Orchestra, co-led by Danilo Perez (Founder and Director of the Berklee Global Jazz Institute), Marco Pignataro (Managing Director of the Berklee Global Jazz Institute), and Chris Collins (Valade Chair in Jazz at Wayne State University and President of the Detroit Jazz Fest. Foundation) brings together aspiring artists from Berklee’s Global Institute and Wayne State University’s Jazz Program with special guests to present new music that fuses jazz with diverse root-musics, styles and instrumentation from across the globe. This rich environment of sharing, collaboration, diversity and performance results in music that belongs to everyone and unites us all as a one-world culture.
Berklee’s (Boston, MA) Global Jazz Institute
Danilo Perez, Founder and Director
A Grammy Award winner, pianist, composer, producer, and educator, Danilo Pérez is also a social activist, humanitarian, and leading proponent of global jazz. Pérez is among the most influential and dynamic musicians of our time. His music is a blend of Panamanian roots with elements of Latin American folk music, jazz, European impressionism, and African and other musical heritages that promote music as a multidimensional bridge between people.
Pérez has worked as a music educator in the U.S. and around the world for more than 20 years. He serves as a UNESCO Artist for Peace, a cultural ambassador for Panama, and artistic director of the Panama Jazz Festival. In previous years, he has served as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, and he has received numerous awards for his social work in Latin America.
Pérez is a recipient of the 2018 United States Artists Fellowship, the 2015 Gloria Career Achievement Award, and the 2009 Smithsonian Latino Center’s Legacy Award, to name a few. As a bandleader, he has earned numerous accolades and four Grammy nominations for his innovative recordings. As a composer, he has been awarded commissions from the International Composing Competition "2 Agosto" in Italy, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Banff Centre, and the Chicago and Detroit Jazz Festivals, among others. He has collaborated with such musicians as Dizzy Gillespie, Wayne Shorter, Wynton Marsalis, Roy Haynes, and Cassandra Wilson.
Marco Pignataro, Managing Director
A multitalented saxophone player, composer, and educator originally from Bologna, Italy. He has shared stages with artists such as Eddie Gomez, Joanne Brackeen, Danilo Pérez, George Garzone, John Patitucci, Rufus Reid, Kenwood Dennard, Terri Lyne Carrington, Antonio Sanchez, Ben Street, Brian Lynch, Billy Drummond, Billy Hart, Victor Lewis, Clark Terry, and Jon Faddis, among others.
He performs and tours internationally with several musical groups, including the Marco Pignataro Almas Antiguas Quartet and the Eddie Gomez Quintet, which is featured on the widely acclaimed CD Per Sempre (BFM Records). Pignataro’s CD, Sofia’s Heart, was also produced by jazz legend Eddie Gomez and features Pignataro’s compositions and arrangements. Pignataro's latest recording for Zoho Records, Almas Antiguas, features a stellar band including Eddie Gomez on bass, Alan Pasqua on piano, Adam Cruz on drums,
and George Garzone on tenor saxophone. The music is evocative and powerful, blending modern jazz with shades of Mediterranean, folk, and Latin influences and very lyrical melodies throughout the CD.
Pignataro was the director and cofounder of the Jazz and Caribbean Music Department and chair of the Jazz Saxophone Department at the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico. Currently, Pignataro serves as the artistic director for the Dominican Republic Jazz Festival and the educational adviser for the humanitarian foundation Fedujazz in the Dominican Republic, using music as a tool for social change.
Chris Collins, Valade Chair in Jazz Wayne State Univ./President and Artistic Dir. Detroit Jazz Fest. Found. Wayne State University Jazz and Detroit Jazz Festival Foundation
Born in Detroit, Christopher Collins is cited as holding a singular place in the Detroit culture and jazz scene. He is an internationally recognized jazz recording artist/composer and mentor, President and Artistic Director of the Detroit Jazz Festival Foundation , and Professor/Valade Endowed Chair in Jazz at Wayne State University. As the leader of his own ensembles and as a featured soloist, Collins has toured throughout Asia, South Africa, Europe and North America. He has held numerous residencies, published recordings, compositions, articles, and book chapters, and presented as lecturer and panelist around the world.
Collins has performed at jazz festivals including: Cork, Ireland, Montreux-Switzerland, Panama, Pori, Nice, North Sea, and Glasgow — And won numerous awards, including the first American to receive the Brusoni Award in Italy.
As the President and Artistic Director of the Detroit Jazz Festival Foundation (now in its 41st year-the largest free jazz festival in the world) Collins has focused on creating unique diverse international and regional programming, powerful educational initatives, long term financial stability, creative technology, global collaborations, and a joyous festival environment that annually welcomes more than 325,000 in- person and 1.6 million virtual jazz lovers from around the world resulting in tens-of millions in economic impact--exploring the Detroit Culture and supporting the economic revitalization of the region. His leadership has broadened the outreach of this art form while maintaining the highest standards of artistic excellence and celebrating the communicative nature and jubilant character of true jazz.