BIG BAND WORKSHOPS
EMILIO SOLLA
Composer - Arranger - Educator
After requests to write arrangements of my music in big band format by artists such as Arturo O’Farrill and Paquito D’Rivera, in 2019 I decided to put together my own orchestra, gathering many of the best soloists in New York. This 17-piece band, the Tango Jazz Orchestra, went on to record and release its first album, Puertos, Music from International Waters in 2019, which was awarded a Latin Grammy for Best Latin Jazz Album while one of the album tracks, La Novena, was nominated for a Grammy for Best Instrumental Arrangement, an honor shared with Vince Mendoza, John Williams and Jacob Collier.
Since then, I’ve been invited for residencies at Kansas University, West Michigan University and University of Nebraska to teach and perform this music, and scores from this album have been played at Fullerton, The New School and jazz orchestras in Europe and Japan (and 2 charts will be part of the 2024 repertoire at the Manhattan School of Music Jazz Orchestra, conducted by John Benitez). In these workshops, I rehearse the orchestra (which has previously worked on the music with their directors) and conduct them in a concert. While at the school, I have scheduled
masterclasses, a small format concert with faculty members, a lecture on the history of Tango or other activities listed under the Educator tab on my website.
Llegará, llegará, llegará, live at JALC
Puertos, 2020 Latin Grammy Award – The making of
The TJO meets Lee Konitz
Spain (arr. by E. Solla) feat. Paquito D’rivera
Llegará, llegará, llegará,
live at JALC
Puertos, 2020 Latin Grammy Award – The making of
The TJO meets
Lee Konitz
Spain (arr. by E. Solla) feat. Paquito D’rivera
About Emilio Solla
With a career that spans 38 years now, Latin Grammy winning and 6-times Grammy nominated, Argentine-born and New York-based composer, arranger and pianist Emilio Solla received his B.A. in Classical Piano from the National Conservatory of Music in Buenos Aires and his M.A. in Jazz Composition from Queens College in New York. Solla has released fourteen albums as composer and bandleader and more than fifty as pianist/producer/arranger and is recognized by peers and press as one of the most outstanding and personal creators worldwide in the tango-jazz genre; a blend of Argentine tango and other Latin American rhythms with the freedom and advanced harmonies of jazz music.
Emilio has worked with veteran icons in the jazz and classical worlds such Paquito d’Rivera, Vince Mendoza, the Boston Pops, Billy Hart, the WDR Big Band and Yo-Yo Ma to name a few, and he maintains a global presence as a leader of four ensembles including his quartet Tributango, his quintet Bien Sur! (feat. Chris Cheek) as well as his nine-piece band La Inestable de Brooklyn, and The Emilio Solla Tango Jazz Orchestra, a 17-member big band featuring some of the most prolific jazz instrumentalists of our era.
A 2023 Warner Classics release, Ritmo, is his symphonic homage to Chick Corea, featuring Emilio’s distinctive arrangements and orchestrations. The album has been awarded two 2023 Latin Grammy Nominations and a current 2024 Grammy Nomination for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album.
Emilio is an experienced educator and has held positions at conservatories in Argentina, Spain and the USA, and residencies at Emory University, Western Michigan University, University of Kansas, University of Nebraka-Lincoln, Bates College, Gotemburg Music School (Sweden), and Pop & Jazz Conservatory (Finland), among others. He is currently on faculty at The New School of Music in NY, where he has lived since 2006.
Beyond the music-making and teaching, your lecture was enlightening and helped bring Music and the Humanities together for a joint event on campus…your willingness to spend extra time with our students was indeed extraordinary!
School of Music – University of Kansas