Roland Vazquez Quintet

“…the balance of the program is devoted to the work of Roland Vazquez, whose involved and boundlessly imaginative scores establish him as one of the major jazz composers of our time.” – David R. Adler

Throughout his 20 years performing in NYC, composer and drummer Roland Vazquez has developed a “funky-salsa-bebop” style with unique compositions for quintet, octet and big band. As a member of Clare Fischer’s band “Salsa Picante”, Vasquez played on the group’s Grammy-winning “Salsa Picante 2+2.” As jazz faculty at Manhattan School of Music and the University of Michigan, he taught ensembles, jazz composition, and “Music of the Afro Latin Diaspora”. Roland also received a grant from the Aaron Copland Fund for Music to record “The Visitor” (2009) featuring his all-star NYC jazz orchestra.