About the Artists:

Memo Acevedo

Memo began to make a mark on rock music in Bogota, Colombia during his early teens. Later on he rediscovered his Latin roots while living in Canada. A self-taught musician, his passion for Latin music compelled  him to take it as a serious object of study. While in Canada, Memo and his two bands, Banda Brava and the Jazz Cartel, helped expose Canadian audiences to a wide range of Afro-Cuban and Brazilian music. Memo also played a major role in establishing a Latin jazz, Salsa and Brazilian ensemble at Humber College in Toronto. To further promote Latin music he hosted a radio show "The Latin Beat" at Toronto's CIUT-FM, which aired for ten years until he moved to New York City.

His self-produced CD "Building Bridges" (on Concord/J.A) features  mentor Tito Puente, Dave Valentin and Gonzalo Rubalcaba and contains mostly new material written and arranged by Memo and his trombonist, T.Promane.

Since his move to New York City, Memo's been active recording and performing with the late Hilton Ruiz, Mark Murphy, Peggy Stern,  Toshiko Akiyoshi, The Latin Jazz Coalition, the legendary Jazz duo  Jackie & Roy, the English Hip Hop band The Propellerheads, and  Broadway shows "The Lion King" and "The Civil War."

Memo's currently the Latin Jazz/Brazilian ensemble director and percussion/drums professor at New York University. He's also in charge  of the Education department at LP a.k.a Latin Percussion. He's co- author of the Drummers Collective "Afro-Caribbean & Brazilian Rhythms  for the Drumset".

His endorsing companies are Sabian, Regal Tip, Taye Drums & Evans.

Allan Molnar

Allan Molnar currently resides in New York City where he teaches at  Lehman College and freelances in the music profession. Prior to moving  to New York, Allan was very active as a vibraphonist, percussionist  and educator in Toronto, Canada. His experiences include many live and  recorded performances in a variety of genres including jazz (Glen  Hall, Roswell Rudd, Phil Nimmons), Latin (Vibrason, Con-Cache) and pop (Nelly Furtado, Jarvis Church).

Allan spent more than 20 years teaching instrumental music with the  Toronto Catholic District School Board and successfully brought many  elements of professional music to the classroom by way of his MIDI- assisted band program. His students have experienced both the  performance and creative aspects of this approach to learning. More  than 130 music teachers have been able to duplicate important elements of Allan's program in their own schools as a direct result of his many  workshop appearances at conferences and universities.

Allan Molnar is a recipient of the prestigious "Prime Minister's Award  for Teaching Excellence." He continues to work as an independent music  education consultant and as a resource teacher for the Canadian  Teachers Federation through the "Sharing Teaching Excellence" program.  Allan is a faculty member of the KoSA International Percussion  Workshops, works as a clinician for Sabian Cymbals, Latin Percussion  and ProMark Drumsticks, and is the chair of the Percussive Arts  Society Technology Committee.

Jim Seeley

He has recorded, toured, and performed with over the years with: Ray  Charles, Chico O'farrill, Chucho Valdez, Bebo Valdez, Jazz @ Lincoln  Center's Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, The Duke Ellington Orchestra, Greg  Allman and Friends, The Allman Brothers, Lester Bowie's Brass Fantasy, Michel Camilo, Maynard Ferguson, and many others. As part of Jazz @  Lincoln Center some of artists we featured with the Afro Latin Jazz  Orchestra include Wynton Marsalis, Paquito D'Rivera, Jon Faddis, Tom  Harrell, Lew Solof and Arturo Sandoval. A soon to be released cd by  the band features several solos and an original composition and  arrangement of mine called "Starry Night". A recent release on Zoho  called "The Jim Seeley/Arturo O'farrill Quintet" features several  compositions arranged for small group.

Master Classes and clinics have been conducted in Thailand, Japan, Venezuela, as well as here in the US and Europe. In New York he  continues to perform, teach, and freelance, and can be heard live  every Sun. night at the renowned jazz club "Birdland" with The Chico  O'farrill Latin Jazz Orchestra. This steady gig at Birdland has lasted  for over ten years. Another release on the Zoho label is in the works  and will be another collaboration with his good friend and colleague,  Arturo O'farrill.