Search Results for: Legacy of Salsa
Alex Acuña
USA / Los Angeles / California
Alex Acuña and 3 times Grammy nominated artist
Born in Pativilca, Peru, 100 miles north of Lima, Alex Acuña was born into a musical family that inspired him and helped shape him as a musician. His father and five brothers were all musicians. Alex taught himself how to play
the drums from the age of four. By the time Alex turned ten, he was already playing in local bands. As a teenager, he moved to Lima and became one of Peru’s most accomplished session drummers, performing on many recording projects for artists, as well as film and television productions.
In Lima, Alex also earned a glowing reputation for his live performances. So much so, that at the age of eighteen, Alex was chosen in 1964 by the great Cuban band leader, Perez Prado, to join his big band. It was with the Prado band that Alex first traveled to the United States.
In 1965, Alex moved to Puerto Rico to work as a studio musician and play locally. During this period, he also studied for three years at the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music, playing as a classical percussionist with the Symphony Orchestra under the direction of the famed Spanish cellist master Pablo Casals.
Alex moved to Las Vegas in 1974, where he played with such greats as Elvis Presley Diana Ross, Paul Anka, Frank Sinatra, Olivia Newton John. Between 1975 and 1977, he made part of jazz history when he became both drummer and percussionist for one of the most innovative and pioneering jazz groups of our time, Weather Report.
He first performed as percussionist (October 1975 to April 1976), and later as drummer (April 1976 to October 1977). He recorded two albums with the group: “Black Market” (1976) and the highly successful “Heavy Weather” (1977), which included the famous tracks “Birdland” and “Havona.” “Heavy Weather” became the first jazz-fusion album to sell a million copies.
Alex next moved to Los Angeles, California, in 1978 where he quickly earned the position of a valued session drummer and percussionist for recordings, television and motion pictures.
His countless album credits include such diverse artist as U2, Paul McCartney, Blondy, Joni Mitchell, Jay Z, Ella Fitzgerald, Whitney Houston, Annie Lennox, Sergio Mendes, Yellow , Joe Cocker, Jennifer Nettles, Jackets, Chic Corea, Herbie Hancock, Paco de Lucia, Ron Carter, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Julio Iglesias, Koinonia, Chris Botti, Chano Dominguez, Tom Jones, Seals, Juan Gabriel, Luis Miguel, Placido Domingo, Ron Kenoly, Sam Phillips, The Winnans, Phil Keagy, Lee Ritenour, Larry Carlton,Wayne Shorter, Joe Zawinul and also has performed with the London Symphony Orchestra, Metropole Orchestra, WDR big band.
Alex has also performed live with the likes of Al Jarreau, Bobby McFerrin Roberta Flack, Antonio Carlos Jobim, The Gipsy Kings, Paco de Lucia, Celia Cruz, Carlos Santana, Herbie Hancock, Christina Aguilera, James Taylor, Michael Mc Donald, Tito Puente, Roy Orbison, Bruce Springsteen, Eddie Palmieri, to name a few. Additionally, Alex has recorded film scores under the direction of Great Composers:
Gustavo Dudamel, Dave Grusin, Alan Silvestri, Michele Legrand, Bill Conti, Michele Colombier, Marvin Hamlish, Maurice Jarre, Mark Isham, Michael, Giacchino, John Dabney, John Powell, James Newton Howard, Hans Zimmer, Randy Newman, John Williams, Harry Gerson Williams, Lalo Schiffrin, Steve Jablonski, Christophe Becker and many others. He became the recipient of many awards and honors including the Emeritus MVP award from NARAS
(National Academy of Recording for the Arts and Sciences) and winner of the “Best Latin/Brazilian Percussionist” of Modern Drummer’s Readers Poll for fifteen consecutive years.
Alex’s South American and Caribbean roots and understanding of contemporary and classical music make him a complete and skilled master musician. In 2000, Alex Acuña y Su Acuarela De Tambores received a Grammy nomination for “Best Traditional Tropical Latin Album” for “Rhythms for a New Millennium”. This solo album included varying styles of Latin, South American and African percussion. The nomination confirmed Alex’s vast knowledge and expertise of percussion rhythms. Zan Stewart of the Los Angeles Times wrote, “Alex Acuña is the epitome of the world music percussionist, to whom no style is a stranger”.
Alex also received two Latin Grammy nominations in 2003. Los Hijos del Sol “To My Country”, which was released by his independent record label – NIDO Entertainment. The second Latin Grammy nomination came for Tolu’s
“Bongo de Van Gogh” released by Tonga Productions. In 2004, Alex released his follow up album by Alex Acuña and the Unknowns titled “No Accent”. New Cd called Barxeta by Losen records 2013. In addition, Alex has composed music for various artists and produced “Thinking of You” by Alex Acuña and the Unknowns, “Rumberos Poetry” by Tolú and “Aliyah” by Kay Silberling. This year will see the release of some new DVD projects for Drum Channel.
Alex is widely known as an educator, gifted teacher and clinician of drums and percussion. He has recorded four solo instructional videos and provides seminars at universities such as UC Los Angeles, Berklee School of Music in
Boston. USC and other top international schools of music. HYPERLINK “http://www.DWDrums.com”
www.DWDrums.com;
HYPERLINK “http://www.sabian.com” www.sabian.com;
HYPERLINK “http://www.GonBopsPercussion.com”
www.GonBopsPercussion.com;
HYPERLINK “http://www.VicFirth.com” www.VicFirth.com;
HYPERLINK “http://www.Evans.com” www.Evans.com;
Zoom and Shure microphones all sponsor Alex. He is also credited with the design of Zildjian’s “Azuka” line of cymbals, signature Vic Firth sticks and the caddy stick bag, the Alex Acuña line of Signature percussion instruments with GonBops – 4 Special Edition Congas, 5 Cow Bells, Timbales, Bongos and his own Especial Edition Peruvian Cajon.
Innovation, energy and pure heart characterize Alex’s playing. It is easy to see why Alex Acuña is one of the most sought after musicians of our time. Alex recognizes his music as a gift from the Lord Jesus and gives all the glory to God!
HYPERLINK “http://www.myspace.com/acunahoffmathisen”http://www.myspace.com/acunahoffmathisen
HYPERLINK “http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35KT2leNa30″http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35KT2leNa30
HYPERLINK “http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=148441735197932″http://www.facebook.com/event.php?
eid=148441735197932
Famous Movies where Alex Acuña is playing since 2000
Drum Line
The Incredible
Hancock
Mr. and Mrs. Smith
Mission Impossible 3 & 4 Star Trek Into the Darkness Star Trek
Ratatouille
UP
Hop
Super 8
Italian Job
Beverly Hills Chihuahua Happy Feet
Transformers
Speed Racer
RED
The Kite Runner
X-Men Origin- Wolverine Burlesque
Entangled
Bourn Legacy
Bucket List
Toy Story 3
Cars 2
Monte Carlo
Happy Feet
Hansel & Gretel
Jupiter Ascending
Monsters University
John Carter
Cars
Smurf
Frozen
Tangle
Bourne Legacy
Monte Carlo
Down Of the Planets of the Apes Tomorrowland
Jupiter Ascending
Inside Out
Minions
Jurassic World
Sisters
The Big Short
Alvin and the Chipmunks: Road Chip Zootopia
Movies that Alex recorded and won the OSCARS 2016 – 2017
1 – la la land
2 – Moana
3 – Star wars – Rogue one
4 – Moana
5 – Zootopia
6 – Jungle Book.
Movies that Alex recorded during 2017
1 – COCO
2 – Star Wars – The Last JEDI
3 – Pitch Perfect – 3
4 – Despicable – 3
5 – Spider Man – Home Coming
6 – Birth Of A Nation
7 – Minions
8 – War For The Planets of The Apes
Brad Dutz
North America / Los Angeles / California
Brad Dutz, His endorsements include Innovative Percussion, Gon Bops, Remo, Yamaha, Paiste and Roland
While recording CD’s for artists like Kiss, Willie Nelson, Michael Wolff, Tribal Tech, David Benoit, Rick Braun, Vinny Golia, Alanis Morrisette, LeAnn Rimes, Mitch Forman, Kim Richmond, Rickie Lee Jones, Hands’Onsemble and even actors Jeff Bridges and Ronny Cox, Brad Dutz tries to bring the strangest percussion instruments he has to the session to create a unique sound.
He can be heard on TV shows King of the Hill, Family Guy, American Dad, Enterprise and Firefly. Some of the movies that Brad has played on include Last Vegas, Battleship, Bourne Legacy, Cowboys And Aliens, Prince Of Egypt, Syriana, Hildago, Rugrats Of Egypt, Syriana, Hildago, Rugrats Go Wild, Star Trek 5, Ocean’s Eleven, Anchorman, Hollywood Homicide, Transformers 1 And 2, Rush Hour 3, Run Down, I Spy and Imax Films’ Mysteries Of Egypt, Mt. Kilamanjaro, The Amazon and Island Of Sharks.
As a member of BMI since 1985, Brad Dutz has produced over thirty CD s as a leader and composed the entire body of music on more than twenty of those releases. He is the owner of the publishing company Leaky Spleen music. The ensembles he has written for cover a wide range of instrumental combinations.
In 1990, Brad Dutz started his composition studies of multiple scores mainly of 20th century music and privately with composers Terry Plumeri, Ron Jones, Russell Steinberg. In addition to CD projects, he has composed for dance companies and theatre as well as television, movies including a few silent films.
The main focus of his composition over the last twenty years however, has been his numerous CD releases.
Everything from solo pieces to nonets is featured on his compact discs. Last year saw the fourth release- ‘”Peripheral Hearing” ‘of his latest quartet project.
This unit has the unique instrumental combination of mallet percussion, oboe, cello and bass clarinet.
Other recent ensembles include The Other Three (a trio with Kim Richmond and John Fumo), Obliteration 4tet (found objects for percussionists), Polarity Taskmasters (keyboards, voice, Theremin, percussion) and the duet CD with reedman Vinny Golia.
In 2002 his Obliteration quartet was the subject of a documentary lm. As an educator, Brad has taught hand percussion at Cal State Long Beach since 1997.
He has conducted hundreds of clinics at colleges and high schools on a variety of topics (including studio work, composing for percussion, producing his own CD of world percussion and freelancing in the music industry) He has also conducted master classes, lectures at many schools including University of KY Cal Arts, Saddleback College, Chapman College, NIU, WINONA State in MN.
Cal state LA, Indiana University, UNT, WEBER College, USC, UCLA, EIU, Eagle Rock Community Center, Southern Methodist University, ISU, U. of I, MILLIKIN, Pierce College, University Nebraska, Southern Utah University, Brigham Young ,Utah state, University of Alaska- Fairbanks and many others.
In 1995, Brad Dutz was featured on four videotapes (now reissued on DVD) Have Fun Playing Hand Drums that taught newcomers about playing hand percussion.
In addition, for four years Brad Dutz wrote a monthly column for Drum Magazine on hand percussion and he has written three (3) books featuring his original compositions -Manipulations in Sound and Time, Music for Hand Percussion and Percussion Pieces for Duos, Trios and Quartets. There are brand new compositions since 2012 now published by Honey rock Music. His endorsements include Innovative Percussion, Gon Bops, Remo, Yamaha, Paiste and Roland.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brad.dutz/abo ut?lst=833588259%3A569504777%3A15 81456694
Kirk Douglas
North America / United Stated / New York
Kirk Douglas “My greatest achievement un my long career was to help end the blacklist at the movies”
At the age of 103, Isuur Danielovitch Demsky, on February 5th, 2020 passed away. He was better known as Kirk Douglas. At the Sarah Lawrence College in Canton, new York. He discovered acting. He was rejected from the fraternities for being Jewish. However, eventually, Douglas became the president of the Student Council, the first time a Jew help that position. In his career he made over 90 film. He brought a certain air of powerful rebellion in his characters and left a legacy. A part of that legacy is the recognition for his humanitarian sense and “commitment to justice”
Douglas said that his greatest achievement was in helping to end McCarthyism. People from the industry were persecuted for their alleged communist affiliation. Artistic creativity was being censured. Douglas had hired screenwriter Dalton Trumbo to do the screenplay for Spartacus.
Trumbo was one of the highest paid screenwriters of this time, accredited with works like Oscar winning The Brave One, Exodus, Spartacus and Roman holiday and many other famous works. In 1950 Dalton spent 11 months in prison as one out he Hollywood 10. The Junior senator from Wisconsin Joseph McCarthy wanted to make a name for himself, along with attorney Roy Cohn, senator (later president) Richard Nixon, and Hollywood gossip columnist Hedda Hopper. The committee assured that Blacklisted individuals wound’s work for years to come. Hedda Hopper organized a picket line at the opening of the film, urging her 35 million reader toy boycott the movies Spartacus.
Otto Preminger was the first to fight back against Joseph McCarthy and his witch-hunt, recognizing the work of Trumbo for Exodus. In 1955 Kirk Douglas had established his own production company. If Spartacus was boycotted, it would cause financial chaos for Douglas, and after being placed in the backlist, no one would work with him and Hollywood would ostracize him.
It took a great deal of courage for Mr. Kirk Douglas to stand up for his beliefs and fight to abolish blacklist and all that it meant. He joined the ranks with Otto Preminger. One of the first persons to cross Hedda Hopper’s picket line and give his support to Kirk Douglas was president elect John F. Kennedy.
Undoubtedly, the death of Kirk Douglas server for us to reflect on our role in society, and how we can contribute for our spaces, whether from art, film or music: and in different directions, beyond religion or politic. That sense of justice in the real legacy of Kirk Douglas. Some articles mention tha his already successful son Michael Douglas, how is married to actress Catherine Zeta Jones was left out o the will. Mr kirk Douglas left a vast part of his fortune to charity, His successful son Michael Douglas already is reputed to have a fortune in excess of $ 300,000,000 dollars.
North America – August 2020
