Memo Acevedo

Memo Acevedo
Birth name Guillermo Memo Acevedo [1][2]
Born Santa Fe de Bogotá, Colombia [3]
Genres Afro-Cuban jazz, bossa nova, Latin jazz, rock, pop
Occupation(s) Musician, bandleader, composer, educator
Instruments drums, timbales, percussion
Years active 1966–present [4]

Memo Acevedo is an Colombian-born Canadian-American drummer, percussionist, composer, arranger, bandleader, and educator, considered a pioneer, both in his native Colombia and in Spain (in his contribution to their respective rock music scenes),[4] as well as in Canada, where he later became a leading figure in the proliferation of Latin jazz.[1] Since 1996, Acevedo has resided in New York City.[5]

Career

Born Guillermo Memo Acevedo in Santa Fe de Bogotá, Colombia, Acevedo lived for a few years in Spain as a young man;[4] by the mid-1970s, he had relocated to Toronto,[6] where we would remain for approximately two decades.[4]

Starting in 1977, and continuing for almost twenty years, Acevedo led the influential Toronto-based Latin jazz unit, Banda Brava.[7] During this period, he also led the group Memo Acevedo and the Jazz Cartel.[5] Virtually all of Acevedo's recordings, however, have been as a sideman, the sole exception being his self-produced 1993 album Building Bridges, featuring Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Dave Valentin, and Tito Puente.[8] His album, Building Bridges was mastered at Metalworks Studios in Mississauga, Ontario. As a sideman, he has recorded with a variety of artists, including jazz singers Mark Murphy and Chris Connor, as well as opera singer Denyce Graves and folk rock guitarist/singer-songwriter Bruce Cockburn.[9] In addition, Acevedo has performed in a wide variety of contexts, including the Broadway musical The Lion King, the Cuban band Irakere, with Gregory Hines, pianist Hilton Ruiz, singing duo Jackie and Roy, British Big Beat exponents The Propellerheads, jazz keyboardists Peggy Stern [5] and Doug Riley, jazz pianist and singer Carol Welsman, rock singer-songwriter Stephen Stills, saxophonist Tom Scott,[3] and flutist Bill McBirnie.[10]

Acevedo was a professor at New York University.[10]

Acevedo was awarded the Percussive Arts Society President’s Industry Award in 2011.[11]

Acevedo has performed as guest faculty at the Yakima Valley Community College Latin Music Festival several times, most recently in May, 2012.[10] The Latin Music Festival is organized by David Blink. [12]

Discography

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Jazz: Fusion, Latin Jazz, World Beat". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
  2. ↑ Guilleromo Acevedo, "United States Public Records Index". Family Search. Retrieved 20 February.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Memo Acevedo: Biography". Canadian Jazz Archive. Retrieved 19 February 2014..
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 "Memo Acevedo". Gon Bops. Retrieved 20 February 2014.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 "Kosa Faculty: Memo Acevedo". Kosa Music. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
  6. ↑ Scott, Andrew. "Locating Louis Simão in the Toronto Latin Music community: A dialogic ethnography; Memo Acevedo and the Toronto Latin Music community, 1980-1995". Soundscapes: journal on media culture. Volume 7, September 2004. Retrieved 20 February 2014.
  7. ↑ "Festival Archives: Memo Acevedo and Banda Brava". Montreal Jazz Fest. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
  8. ↑ "Building Bridges (Musical CD, 1993)". WorldCat. Retrieved 19 February 2014.
  9. ↑ "Links (Musical Cd, 2001)". WorldCat. See also
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Muir, Pat. "The YVCC Latin Music Festival -- Taking it to the people". Yakima Herald. Retrieved 7 May 2012.
  11. ↑ Stevenson, Marcia. "LP Education Specialist Memo Acevedo Receives PAS Award". LP E-News. Retrieved 7 May 2012.
  12. ↑ Yanow, Scott (2000). Afro-Cuban Jazz. Miller Freeman Books. p. 7. ISBN 978-0-87930-619-9.

External Links