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CÉCILE McLORIN SALVANTfeaturing the Aaron Diehl Trio

College of Charleston Cistern Yard May 25 and 26 at 9:00pm

PRESENTED BY WELLS FARGO

Cécile McLorin Salvant, vocals with Aaron Diehl, piano Paul Sikivie, double bass Lawrence Leathers, drums

CÉCILE McLORIN SALVANT (vocals) was born and raised in Miami, Florida, of a French mother and Haitian father. She started classical piano studies at age five, and began singing in the Miami Choral Society at eight. Early on, she developed an interest in classical voice and began studying with private instructors, and later with Edward Walker, vocal teacher at the University of Miami. In 2007 Salvant moved to Aix-en-Provence, France, to study political science, and classical and baroque voice at the Darius Milhaud Conservatory. It was in Aix-en-Provence, with reedist and teacher Jean-François Bonnel, that she started learning about improvisation, and the instrumental and vocal repertoire ranging from the 1910s on, and where she sang with her first band. In 2009, after a series of concerts in Paris, she recorded her first album, Cécile, with Jean-François Bonnel’s Paris Quintet. A year later, she won the Thelonious Monk Competition in Washington, DC. She currently lives and studies music in New York.

Salvant performs unique interpretations of unknown and rarely recorded jazz and blues compositions. She focuses on a theatrical, and sometimes ironic, interpretation of the jazz standard, and is just beginning to compose her own instrumental pieces and songs. She enjoys growing popularity in Europe and in the United States, performing in clubs, concert halls, spiegeltents, and festivals, accompanied by renowned musicians like Bonnel, Rodney Whitaker, Dan Nimmer, and Aaron Diehl. Salvant has also performed with Wynton Marsalis and his swinging Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.

WELLS FARGO JAZZ

DAVID PEÑA DORANTESCollege of Charleston Cistern Yard May 27 at 9:00pm

PRESENTED BY WELLS FARGO

David Peña Dorantes, piano with Javier Moreno, double bass Nano Peña, drums and percussion

DAVID PEÑA DORANTES (piano) is an artist for whom the piano has become a flamenco instrument; and flamenco, in turn, sounds like something new. A native of Seville, Spain, born in 1969, he has taken a new path without betraying the teachings of his family, whose lineage and name are well known inside the traditional music of Andalusia. His genealogical tree points to his deep-rooted feeling for flamenco—grandson of La Perrata, son of Pedro Peña, nephew of Juan Peña “El Lebrijano,” and a relative of Fernanda and Bernarda de Utrera—yet he has established his own unique sound within the tradition. Although his flirtation with music started with the guitar, on which he was able to win several contests as a child, at age ten he became fascinated with the possibilities of the piano and began his studies at Spain’s Royal Conservatory of Music. At the age of 22 he debuted in the Real Alcazar with the King and Queen of Spain in attendance, but it wasn’t until the release of his first album, Orobroy (1998),

that his work came into full public view. Critical acclaim followed quickly, including the Flamenco Hoy award for best instrumental record of the year, and the Demofilio award for artist revelation. The album Sur followed in 2002, again winning the Flamenco Hoy; and in 2003 David Peña Dorantes made history at Seville’s prestigious Biennale of Flamenco, winning the Giraldillo in four separate categories. His newest recording is Sin Muros! (Without Walls), which has just been released in Europe and North America.