Benito Gonzalez & Jackie Warren

Benito Gonzalez & Jackie Warren
$20.00
Sunday 1/27
7:00 pm Buy Tickets

International Summit Meeting with Two Latin Jazz Masters on Piano Live at Nighttown!

Featuring: Benito Gonzalez-piano (Venezuela), & Jackie Warren-piano (USA).

Born into a family of Venezuelan folk musicians, jazz pianist Benito Gonzalez has always had a deep-rooted appreciation for pastimes and traditions. Today, as a rising star of one of America’s finest musical traditions, Gonzalez has come to his current status by following in the footsteps of jazz’s ancestral forebears. The fusion of world rhythms and straight-ahead jazz makes this passionate performer an audience favorite all over the world. 

Benito Gonzalez is being recognized as an exciting pianist and composer for his well-received debut album ‘Starting Point’ (Christian McBride, Antonio Sanchez, Rene McLean, Ron Blake) in addition to taking home first prize at the Great American Jazz Piano Competition.

Benito’s acclaimed sophomore album, ‘Circles’ (Ron Blake, Myron Walden, Azar Lawrence, Christian McBride, Jeff “Tain" Watts), reveals a very personal body of work as he emerges as a leader and an accomplished improviser.

After almost seven years of touring with Kenny Garrett, Benito has added numerous festivals and international jazz club dates to his credit. He has also shared the stage with Curtis Fuller, Pharaoh Sanders, Bobby Hutcherson, Christian McBride, Ignacio Berroa, Roy Hargrove, Rene McLean, Steve Turre,Delfeayo Marsalis,Hamiet Bluiett, Antonio Sanchez, T.K. Blue, Nicholas Payton, Azar Lawrence, and Jackie McLean.

A native of Colorado, pianist Jackie Warren originally came to Ohio to study classical piano at Oberlin Conservatory, where she graduated with a B.M. in performance. While at Oberlin, she also studied jazz arranging, composition, and theory with Wendell Logan, who became a mentor to her, and encouraged her to study jazz piano with Neal Creque and jazz improvisation with Kenny Davis.  Jackie received a M.M. from Cleveland State University in classical piano performance, and has been Cleveland favorite ever since.

Jackie performs regularly as a soloist, but has her own jazz trio, which includes bassist Peter Dominguez and drummer Ron Godale. She also arranges and plays salsa and Latin jazz with percussionist Sammy Deleon y Su Orquesta.  Jackie has performed locally and nationally with such artists and groups as David Fathead Newman, Benny Bailey, Clark Terry, Frank Morgan, Bobby Watson, Frank Foster, Jane Bunnett and the Spirits of Havana, Othello Molineaux, Donald Harrison, Gerald Wilson, Jimmy Heath, Impacto Nuevo, Humberto Ramirez, Tony Vega, Tito Rojas, Tito Puente, Jr., Hector Tricoche, Percy Sledge, King Solomon,  the Jazz Heritage Orchestra, the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra, and the Afro Cleveland Orchestra.

Jackie is also an educator and clinician, and has taught jazz arranging and composition and coached jazz combos at Oberlin. She is currently on the Jazz Studies Faculty at Cuyahoga Community College, Metro Campus. She is also on the faculty at the Cleveland Music School Settlement.