A las Millas – 2014

Elio Villafranca is one in a long line of brilliant jazz pianists who has emerged from Cuba during the past 40 years.

Villafranca was classically trained not only as a pianist but as a percussionist and composer, before moving to the United States in 1995.

He has since worked with a wide variety of top jazz artists including Paquito D’ Rivera, Pat Martino, David Murray, Miguel Zenon, Wynton Marsalis, Terell Stafford, and Eric Alexander, and has often led his group, the Jass Syncopators which, despite its 1920s-type name, plays modern hard bop and his originals.

From around 2014, Elio Villafranca is seen playing his original “A las Millas,” a thoughtful jazz piece with a haunting theme that inspires some creative ideas that are also quite melodic.

-Scott Yanow

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