Dayramir &Habana enTRANCE

Bio:

Cuba has produced some of the most dynamic musical innovators in jazz history. Promising newcomer Dayramir González can be added to the pantheon of distinctive Cuban jazz voices. This Afro-Cuban pianist, composer, and arranger-together with his six-piece band, Habana enTRANCE-is setting the Latin jazz world on fire in America. His inspiration has been legendary Cuban pianists Chucho Valdés and Gonzalo Rubalcaba, as well as the rhythmic sounds that are the hallmarks of his country's musical output.

While his artistry entrances audiences, more amazing is how the Havana-born talent has hurdled obstacles that would have daunted a less-determined artist to arrive on these shores. Strong tradition and struggle inform the music he makes with Habana enTRANCE, which audiences across Europe, the Caribbean, and Canada have acclaimed as a new wave of Latin jazz expression. Word is spreading about his sizzling approach on piano, combining powerful contrapuntal rhythms and ear-pleasing harmonic lines that reinvigorate and re-imagine such classic Cuban forms as contradanza, danzón, and son, while incorporating jazz and rap.

In addition to performing, composing and producing, he also teaches magisterial classes based on the compositions and piano styles of Cuban musical traditions from the 20th century expressed in dances, contradances, and danzones combined with jazz and the musical aesthetic of today’s youth.

González was born in Havana to a musical family, picking out nursery rhymes on the family piano at the age of two. Throughout his childhood, he was composing, arranging, and performing. By 16, he was tapped by singer Oscar Valdés of the groundbreaking Cuban band Irakere to play piano with his new group Diákara. In 2004, González formed Habana enTRANCE, honing his craft and perfecting his own singular style. With enTRANCE, he performed at the Jazz Zaragoza festival in Spain, which also featured Chucho and his father Bebo Valdés, jazz-bass legend Ron Carter, Brazilian pianist Eliane Elias, and Harry Connick Jr. In 2006, González competed in Chucho Valdés's JoJazz competition at the Havana International Jazz Festival and won the grand prize to record his debut album Dayramir & Habana enTRANCE.

González has performed with such international artists as Ramón Valle, Omara Portuondo, Teresa Caturla, Ignacio Berroa, Eddie Palmieri, Larry Harlow, George Garzone, Christian McBride, Anat Cohen, and Dave Liebman.

Currently completing a dual major in jazz composition and piano performance at Berklee College of Music on a Presidential Scholarship, he is the first Cuban national to receive this prestigious award and is already making his mark in America. "I believe strongly in what I have musically," he says. "Every time I play my music, people always appreciate what I play because they identify with it. In some way, they find a little bit of themselves in my music. I can contribute something to change the world, and I feel happy to have the opportunity to bring my piece of Cuban jazz to Carnegie Hall."

Global Jazz Institute

As an artist I make my own reflections about my experiences in this world, and express it through my music so that I can share them with people. Our job as artists is to create a platform where our visions are showcased and to express the thoughts that others cannot or are unwilling to express publicly. Music is a language that doesn’t need linguistics to convey its message. We have leaders that speak for and represent us, but they cannot always relay the comprehension that others could or should have of the message that they want to share.

In my home of Havana, Cuba, the only formal training for music in the schools, is classical music. As a jazz musician in my community, I compose many classical danzones and contradances, incorporating contemporary rhythms and jazz harmony, and these pieces are used, taught and ultimately performed by children, young adults as well a educators throughout Havana. In this way, I want to give back to the community that gave to me the musical knowledge and skills I have today, but by always reinventing it, so that music may grow and move forward. My vision for the youth is that they will be able to enjoy, appreciate and maintain interest in music by being involved with jazz, a genre they can relate to better and through jazz, by its nature, be able to express themselves freely and internalize its sound.

I want to sustain jazz and fuel it with the power to elevate and open the minds of people culturally and insightfully. The world is indulging heavily and consuming in large amount, very conventional music and it is our responsibility to bring jazz music to a higher level of appreciation. I want to represent sophisticated and intellectual music that is acknowledged at the same level as mainstream music.

Every individual has a voice, and artists express what we want and need to say, artistically, aesthetically and genuinely. We are the leaders and representatives of our communities, capturing and revealing the beauty that exists in our world.