Juan Prada Trio

Sunday, August 14, 2011 | Bella Mia Stage | 12pm

The music of Juan Prada combines his own compositions with improvisation, forming an original fusion of the elements of the jazz with new trends and cutting-edge contemporary music.

Prada was born in Havana in 1965. Having studied piano, he completed his studies in composition at the Instituto Superior de Arte in 1990. In 1994 he moved to Uruguay, where he played with the Trio Piazzolla'93 and other groups. He also founded the Latínbanda, Salu Trio (Rio de la Plata music), and Havana Sur in addition to the Juan Prada Trio. He was also a member of Patakin, Confusión and Madre Tierra.

Prada was awarded the National Prize of Composition of the National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba three times.  He has performed in Finland, Germany, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, and participated in several festivals, including the International Jazz Festival of Mercedes "Jazz a la calle" (Mercedes 2007, 2008 and 2009) as well as the Jazz Festival of Pelotas, and Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil 2010, among others. In 2006 he performed with his trio, in the cycle Jazzología at the Cultural Center “General San Martín de Buenos Aires,” and as a guest of the renowned Canadian trumpeter "Brownman."

The Juan Prada Trio is completed by Martin Cruz on drums and Banega Diego on electric bass, musicians of a young generation, who with their experiences in other formats, a solid education and a wide spectrum of musical conception, enrich the sonority and language of the trio.

In 2006, the Juan Prada Trio was a finalist in the fifth International Arranger’s Contest at Jazz of Grenade in Spain, representing Uruguay.  Nowadays he brings together teaching with his career of arranger, composer and bandleader. The group’s latest release is Un Nuevo Concepto en el Jazz Latino.

myspace.com/pradamusica