Our current Spotlight Artist Frank Villafañe brings a different approach to the creation of music with the integration of virtual Latin Jazz into his album Punto De Vista (Viewpoint). The construction of a piece of music becomes an incredible process that pulls together a wealth of music knowledge and technological ability. The technology works as a tool and the musical knowledge guides the use of that tool; while the technology allows Villafañe to realize his ideas, his years of musical experience form the foundation of the work. He needs to understand every bit of information about the music from every perspective in order to fuel each song with a realistic and lifelike performance - in a sense, Villafañe becomes all the performers. He shared his process with us here at LJC in an exclusive article that goes through the steps of creating a piece of virtual Latin Jazz - you’ve got to check out Exploring Virtual Latin Jazz With Frank Villafañe. It’s a different process that brings out a different aspect of Latin Jazz and challenges our preconceived notions.

Villafañe definitely thought through all the pieces of Punto De Vista (Viewpoint), including some incredible album artwork. The front and back cover of the recording features artwork from Swiss painter Doris Flück, an artist with a unique perspective and distinctive style. The front cover features a silk painting entitled Deep In Space, a rich tapestry to blues, purples, and interesting imagery. The back cover focuses upon a silk painting entitled Flute, another captivating piece with a similar color scheme. The artwork is inspiring and fits the mood of the music perfectly. Take a second to check out more of Flück’s work at her online gallery HERE.

If you want to find out more about Mr. Villafañe, there’s plenty of places to look online. His website offers news, song samples, photos, gig information, and more. You can hear Villafañe’s music and make a friendship connection on his MySpace. Villafañe’s first album, South Beach offers more of the same great virtual Latin Jazz - you can check it out on his CDBaby page. There’s lots of possibilities!

I’ve included some biographical information on Villafañe, taken from his website. Take a minute to learn more about this fantastic artist, check out his music, and support his work! Enjoy!

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Frank Villafane is a Latin-Jazz pianist, composer and arranger. He plays piano “con clave” in the styles of Eddie Palmieri, Peruchin and Sergio Mendes. Born in Bremerhaven, Germany, son of Mike and Elfriede Villafane, Frank grew up all over the United States and Europe, and experienced multi-culturalism first-hand. Musically, as in life, Frank’s upbringing was fairly eclectic, being exposed to Latin, Jazz, Calypso, Folk, and the Classics early on. He began piano lessons in earnest at the tender age of 8. This interest in music was sustained throughout the moves over two continents during his formative years.

At twelve, Frank moved to Puerto Rico, and was quickly exposed to that infectious music known as “Salsa”. But it was Frank’s 7th grade music teacher which provided the impetus fueling his musical direction; he heard an original copy of Scott Joplin’s “Maple Leaf Rag” played by Scott Joplin himself, and was forever changed. Moving back to the States, at Whiteman AFB, Missouri, Frank quickly acquired and studied the musical form, Ragtime, and earned his first paying “gig” as a professional musician at the age of 14, when he performed many Ragtime favorites by Scott Joplin and other Ragtime greats, for the WAFB Officers Club at a Roaring 20’s theme party. Meanwhile, Frank’s father continued his influence by encouraging him to listen and emulate several great Latin pianists, notably Sergio Mendes (of Brasil 66 fame) and the Cuban legend Pedro Justiz “Peruchin”.

In college, at Rutgers University, Frank began playing piano for a number of Jazz & Latin “conjunto” style bands and orchestras, while studying piano with no less than the great Kenny Barron. He was immersed in theory and keyboard harmony classes at Rutgers and studied at the feet of Walter Bishop Jr, Ted Dunbar, Frank Foster, and Larry Ridley.

Later, Frank formed Jazz Y Clave, an 8 piece conjunto. Performing his own arrangements of many Jazz standards, Jazz Y Clave soon became a staple at New Brunswick’s number one hot-spot, Nova Terra. This continued for five years, during which time Jazz Y Clave performed at many venues throughout New York and New Jersey, including appearing at the prestigious Red Bank Riverfest Jazz Festival in 2001 (and again in 2005), and opening for no less than Eddie Palmieri at the Expo Theater at Fort Monmouth (and again at Red Bank in 2005).

Frank is currently performing with a number of Salsa and Latin-Jazz ensembles, and in between gigs finds time to compose and arrange on his software studio at home.

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Check Out These Related Posts:
Exploring Virtual Latin Jazz With Frank Villafañe
Spotlight: Un Systema Para Todo, Tumbao Bravo
Spotlight: Into The World: A Musical Offering, Andrea Brachfeld
Spotlight: In The Middle, The Craig Russo Latin Jazz Project

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