Michel Camilo - Artículo Breve

Latin Beat Magazine, April, 2002 by Gil Rivera

Born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic in 1954, Michel Camilo composed his first song at the tender age of five, and then spent 13 years studying music in the Conservatorio Nacional of Santo Domingo. By his 16th birthday he was a member of the nation's Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional (the National Symphony). In 1979, he relocated to New York City to further his musical education at the Juilliard and Mannes schools of music. Camilo's talents and compositions quickly influenced the New York music scene, with the aid of Cuban saxophonist Paquito D'Rivera, who recorded the Camilo composition Why Not? in one of his first U.S. albums. Later, the vocal group The Manhattan Transfer won a Grammy award in 1983 with its own version of the same composition.

In 1985, the Michel Camilo Trio debuted at Carnegie Hall in New York City, and he exploded as an international superstar musician and composer. Well-versed in classical, jazz and Latin music, his popularity rapidly spread throughout the Americas, the Caribbean, Europe and Japan.

In 1987 the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional invited him back to the Dominican Republic to direct a classical recital which included pieces authored by Rimsky-Korsakoff, Beethoven and Dvorak, as well as a Camilo composition titled The Goodwill Games, for which he later won an Emmy award. The following year (1988), Camilo was signed by Sony Records and released a self-titled album; thus beginning his conquest of the jazz world. The production was an instant hit that remained on the jazz charts for over eight consecutive weeks. His next disc, On Fire, was voted by Billboard as one of the top three jazz albums of the year, and his 1990 release On the Other Hand earned him a top-10 slot rating for the year as well. This was only the beginning of the career of this extraordinary artist.

Throughout the '90s, Camilo continued to amaze audiences around the world with his incredible talents as a musician and composer. The late jazz giant Dizzy Gillespie recorded Camilo's work as did the internationally famed classical piano duet of Katia & Marielle Lebeque. His album Rendezvous was praised by Billboard and Gavin magazines as one of the top jazz albums of 1993. His performances with the trio format become legendary and second only to his big band productions.

Camilo entered the new millennium with an experimental recording production titled Spain, collaborating with flamenco guitarist Tomatito and earning a Grammy award during the first presentation of the Latin Grammy Awards show. In 2001 his musical performance was featured in the brilliant Latin jazz documentary titled Calle 54, directed by Oscar-winning director Fernando Trueba. His latest CD recording, Triángulo, on the Telarc label, has just been released and is already receiving very favorable reviews. As leader of a powerful trio backed by master bassist Anthony Jackson and the explosive drummer Horacio "El Negro" Hernández, Camilo delivers an impressive repertoire of originals and a few not-so-original compositions, resulting in a very interesting production from these three brilliant musicians.