Duende Quartet
Duende Quartet
Latin jazz, conjunto style, with piano as lead instrument.
"The Duende Quartet specializes in small-combo arrangements for piano, bass and percussion that are intimate, interwoven and, thanks to unexpected shifts in meter, delightfully inventive. "
-- Mike Joyce, Washington Post
Duende Quartet
Duende, a word of Andalusian origin literally meaning goblin or imp, is sometimes described as the indefinable, magical power of creativity that results in a work of art, or simply as soul. Kenneth Tynan used the term duende to describe the understated music of jazz pioneer Miles Davis, and defined it as "...the ability to transmit a profoundly felt emotion with the minimum of fuss and the maximum of restraint." Duende is a musical value that has inspired all of us in this quartet.
The Duende Quartet is devoted to playing Latin Jazz in the style of Mongo Santamaria, Cal Tjader and Willie Bobo with a nod to the Blue Note sound of the’60’s. In a unique small group setting (piano, bass and two hand percussionists), Duende Quartet captures the vibe of the jazz combo while using the rhythms of a Cuban conjunto. Duende has a vast repertoire ranging from traditional Cuban songs to modern jazz compositions.
The Duende Quartet, composed of pianist/keyboardist Harry Appelman, bassist Josh Schwartzman, and percussionists Mark Merella and Sam "Seguito" Turner, has been chosen twice by Jazz at Lincoln Center to tour internationally under the auspices of the U.S. Department of State’s American Music Abroad program. The group was one of six jazz quartets to tour in 2007, and was recently selected again to tour in late winter 2009. Formerly known as the Jazz Ambassadors, this program has hosted such legendary musicians as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Dizzy Gillespie. Duende recorded their self-titled debut CD just after returning from their successful tour of Turkey, Albania, Cyprus and Bosnia in February 2007.
Harry Appelman
Harry Appelman has played on concert stages on five continents, most recently in Egypt in February 2008 with the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra. In addition to the 2007 Duende tour, he was chosen to participate in an earlier U.S. State Department sponsored tour of South and Central America in 2002. Harry has toured with the Woody Herman Orchestra and the Artie Shaw Orchestra. He was a finalist in both the 1987 and 1988 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competitions and one of three prizewinners in the 1989 Great American Jazz Piano Competition. Harry has performed in small groups led by Eddie Daniels, Gary Thomas, George Garzone, Jerry Bergonzi, Jim Snidero, Valery Ponomarev, Brian Lynch, Don Braden, Vincent Herring, Jack Wilkins and Walt Weiskopf, among others.
Mark Merella
Mark Merella is a drummer/percussionist currently working in the Baltimore/Washington area. He has performed with a wide variety of artists in the Jazz and Latin fields including Fred Foss, Rene McLean, Steve Turre, Ray Vega, Steve Berrios and many others. He has performed at the Kennedy Center, the White House, the Smithsonian and many other prominent venues. Mark is also an avid educator and currrently co-leads the group Mosaic.
Josh Schwartzman
Josh is best known as founder, bassist and contributing arranger and composer for Rumba Club since its inception seventeen years ago. He can also be found performing in a variety of musical settings playing acoustic bass, Ampeg Baby bass or piano. Josh studied at the Creative Music Studio in Woodstock, New York in the early eighties and lived in Spanish Harlem where his interest in Latin music was nurtured. For several years, Josh studied arranging and composition privately with the late Dr. Asher Zlotnik, of the Peabody Institute of Music. He has shared the stage with well-known jazz and Latin musicians alike (Tito Puente, Billy Higgins, Giovanni Hidalgo, David Williams, Nestor Torres, Jon Faddis).
Sam Turner
This highly esteemed percussionist, from New York City, has worked nationally and internationally with legends such as Machito, Frank Sinatra, James Brown, Charles Mingus, Dexter Gordon, Freddie Hubbard, and many others. He may be best known for his 15-year long stint as sideman with Lionel Hampton, or his classic recordings with Monguito Santamaría that many feel defined the boogaloo genre of the seventies. Sam has performed all over the world, and is a recipient of the United Nations Peace Award. He makes his home in Washington DC where he performs with Rumba Club as well as with many other jazz and Latin artists and works with the Prince George's Arts Council teaching and performing in schools.
Latin: Cuban Jazz