Claudia Acuña

Vocalist, Claudia Acuña made a name for herself in her native Chile sitting in with likes of Wynton Marsalis, Michel Petrucciani, Joe Lovano and Danilo Perez. She moved to New York City in 1995 where she studied with Abbey Lincoln, Chick Corea and Dianne Reeves. Recognizing her ability to reinvent standards through the fusion of Latin rhythms and jazz sensibilities, the jazz community was quick to embrace Acuña. She has toured extensively and has worked with everybody from George Benson to Danilo Perez. She has released several CDs, including Luna (2004), which was described as “a poetic and percussive Pan-American program of standards and original compositions...broadening the multicultural and multilingual horizons of American popular song.” Since then, Acuña has collaborated with pianist Arturo O’Farrill with whom she recorded a Latin-pop CD and made guest appearances on CDs of David Gilmore and Joey Calderazzo. Her 2009 release, En Este Momento on Marsalis Music, represents a long-awaited return to the jazz spotlight and showcases her unparalleled talent for infusing maximum emotion into both Spanish and English lyrics while mastering the “essential elements of jazz with startling effectiveness” (The Los Angeles Times). Tonight she will be accompanied by Jon Cowherd, piano; Juancho Herrera, guitar; Omer Avital, bass; and Tony Escapa, drums.