Fabian Almazan / Fabian Almazan Trio
Jazz Road Creative Residencies Grant Recipient
Recipient Information
Location
New York, New York
Year of Award
2021
Grant or Fellowship
Jazz Road Creative Residencies Grant
Grant Amount
$40,000
About the Project
Cuban émigré pianist Almazan will interview residents of the Sacrifice Zones ("Black Snow", Ocala FL, etc.) and compose music for trio to include bassist, Linda May Han Oh and drummer, Henry Cole. Collaborators are visual stage light/sculptor Andrew Scott and international speaker, Dr. Mustafa Santiago Ali, produced in partnership with Live Arts Miami.
Residency Location
Miami, FL; Dallas, TX
About the Artist
Cuban-American pianist/composer Fabian Almazan found his musical roots as a child in Havana where he first was steeped in the classical piano tradition.
While earning his bachelor's degree in jazz piano at the Manhattan School of Music, Almazan immersed himself in the realm of orchestral composition studying instrumentation and orchestration with famed Composer/Pianist, Giampaolo Bracali.
Now, an award-winning Composer/Pianist in his own right, Almazan performs his own music, largely inspired by nature and his ideas about the connectedness of all living things. Almazan has performed his music around the world as a band leader and as a featured instrumentalist for the likes of Terence Blanchard, Linda May Han Oh, Gretchen Parlato, John Hollenbeck, Mark Guiliana, Dave Douglass, Avishai Cohen and Ambrose Akinmusire among others. Almazan can be heard as a featured instrumentalist in scores for films such as Harriet, Chi-Raq, Red Tails and Miracle at St Anna.
A passionate environmentalist, Almazan founded Biophilia Records (Biophilia: an instinctive bond between human beings and other living systems) in 2017. In addition to creating impactful and imaginative music, Biophilia artists are united by a common interest in making a positive impact on the environment and their communities. Biophilia artists collaborate with organizations that specialize in conservation, sustainability and continued dialogue on awareness for environmental justice.
Connecting his love of music and the natural word, Almazan recently travelled back to his birthplace where he made field recordings of endemic Cuban birds which were then Incorporated into ""This Land Abounds with Life"", Almazan's 5th studio album as a band leader.
Fabian Almazan lives in New York city with his partner, Bassist Linda May Han Oh, and their young son, Nilo.
Awards and accolades include:
the Sundance Interdisciplinary Grant, a Grammy nomination for his work on Terence Blanchard’s E-Collective album, “Breathless”, the Harvard University Committee on the Arts award, the SWR New Jazz Meeting commission, The Copland Fund, the Jerome Fund for Emerging Composers Award, the Jazz Gallery Residency, the Rockerfeller Brothers Residency, the Cintas Foundation Award in Composition, the Sundance Composers’ Lab fellowship, the Jerome Fund Sound Artist Fellowship Grant/Commission, the Chamber Music America New Jazz Works Commission.