After his recent album 3 Sides of the Coin with the Dafnis Prieto Sí o Sí Quartet, you might think that drummer, composer, and educator Dafnis Prieto will take a break from his creative works. Well, that’s not quite the case.
Dafnis Prieto’s new book “WHAT ARE THE ODDS” is the third book in his catalog, and it shows not only his passion for rhythm and drumming, but furthermore his commitment to music education at large. This one takes you to a fascinating journey of rhythms and meters. The book features 519 examples, and each of them comes with an audio track and a video clip.
From Cuba, Dafnis Prieto’s revolutionary drumming techniques and compositions have had a powerful impact on the music landscape, nationally and internationally.
His various awards and honors include a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship, a GRAMMY Award for Back to the Sunset (2018), two additional GRAMMY nominations, two Latin GRAMMY nominations (including Best New Artist in 2007), and the Jazz Journalists Association’s Up & Coming Musician of the Year in 2006.
As a composer, Prieto has created music for dance, film, chamber ensembles, and most notably for his own bands, ranging from duets to big bands. He has received commissions, grants, and fellowships from Chamber Music America, Princeton University, Jazz at Lincoln Center, MoMA, Whitney Museum of American Art, National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures, Jerome Foundation, East Carolina University, Painted Bride Art Center, Meet The Composer, WNYC, New Music USA, Hazard Productions, and Metropole Orkest, among others.
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Also a gifted educator, Prieto has conducted numerous master classes, clinics, and workshops around the world. He was on the jazz studies faculty at New York University from 2005 to 2014, and in 2015 joined the faculty of the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music.
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