Racy, Miranda, Garcia

 


Jihad Racy

Buzuq, Mijwiz, Nay, Rababa, Salamiyya, Ud

 

Roberto Miguel Miranda

Acoustic Bass

 

Christopher Garcia

Tabla, Percussion, Electronics, Metals


Expect the exotic when these three gentlemen get together....
LA WEEKLY

Racy, Miranda, Garcia Trio Concert
LOS ANGELES TIMES Concert pick of the week


Musical Samples

Sample #1

Sample #2

Sample #3

 

ALI JIHAD RACY - Buzuq, Mijwiz, Nay, Rababa, Salamiyya, Ud

Professor Racy is one of the world's foremost experts on Arab music, credited with studying and documenting numerous musical traditions throughout the Arab world. An accomplished performer, composer, and ethnomusicologist, he has inspired a generation of students and artists in this country and abroad.
Racy was born in Lebanon, where he performed regularly on television and in concerts, while presenting a weekly radio program on world music. Internationally known for his scholarly work, he has conducted field research and is credited with over 75 publications. Topics include the laments of Lebanon, Bedouin music, musical change and sound recording in early-20th century Cairo, improvisation, music of the Arab Gulf region, and folk instruments of the Near East.
At UCLA, Racy teaches seminars on the musical cultures of the Middle East and is the director of the Near East Music Ensemble. He has performed in major theaters, including Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, and has composed and performed music for television, feature and documentary films. Included in his work is the ten-part series, The Arabs, shown on British television and on PBS in the U.S.
Racy also joined the Kronos Quartet in the world premiere of his Zaman Suite, which he composed for the Quartet, and has appeared on a Kronos CD release. He has also performed on a number of Middle Eastern instruments with the Sacramento Symphony and Livermore-Amador Symphony in his compostion titled, The Arab World: A Sea of Memories orchestrated by Arthur Barnes of Stanford University.

REVIEWS

Racy's Ancient Egypt CD ...immaculately performed throughout...
a musical balm brimming with sublime consolation and reflection.
Selected as one of CD Review Magazine's 50 Definitive
World Music Recordings!

CD Review

Racy's dizzyingly refined nay solos are the real show-stoppers
The Outlook

Ali Jihad Racy swirled ecstatic Sufi melodies on his flutelike nay...
Beethoven weaves warm ornaments around his melodies in the slow
(Ninth Symphony) movement, as Racy does on his nay.
Los Angeles Times



Selected Discography:

As Leader
Mystical Legacies - Ali Jihad Racy
Ancient Eqypt - Ali Jihad Racy
Taqaism - Ali Jihad Racy

As Sideman
Caravan - Kronos Quartet
Prince of Eqypt - Hans Zimmer
Material:Hallucination Engine - Bill Laswell
Vision ll:Spirit of Runi - Graeme Revell
Susurri  - John Zeretzke
Hercules: The Legendary Journey - Joseph LoDuca
Jazayer Plus Ali Jihad Racy - Jazayer
Adam Rudolphıs Moving Pictures:Skyway - Adam Rudolph
Sweet Lies - Amos Gilkey
Drive - Amos Gilkey
Ancient Memories - Toni Hanna
Strictly Belly Dancing - Eddie Kochak
Laurice Peters Sings - Laurice Peters


Performance Credits:
Boothbay Harbor Pops Orchestra
Kenny Burrell, Billy Higgins,
Souhail Kaspar, Shujaat Khan, Kronos Quartet,
Livermore-Amador Symphony Orchestra, Cheb Mami,
Sayyid Makkawi, Roberto Miranda, Tito Puente,
Sacramento Symphony Orchestra,
Simon Shaheen, Sting,
Wadi al-Safi,
& others
 

for additional UCLA BIO info on Ali Jihad Racy visit
http://www.ethnomusic.ucla.edu/ethnomusicology/Faculty/Racy/racy.htm

To see/hear a bio and welcome address from Ali Jihad Racy for the UCLA Near East Ensemble
http://www.ethnomusic.ucla.edu/systematic/Students/Pantelis/CDRom/Ensembles/NearEast/Direct.htm


To hear music samples of the UCLA Near East Ensemble under the direction of Ali Jihad Racy
http://www.ethnomusic.ucla.edu/systematic/Students/Pantelis/CDRom/Ensembles/NearEast/NearEas2.htm

Click here to download a clip compiled from the
              Ensemble's live performance at the
            1997 UCLA Spring Festival (size: 2.6Mb)
http://www.ethnomusic.ucla.edu/systematic/Students/Pantelis/CDRom/Ensembles/NearEast/Perform.htm




ROBERTO MIGUEL MIRANDA -  Acoustic Bass
Roberto Miguel Miranda, virtuoso bassist, prolific composer, inspired teacher and respected member of the Los Angeles creative music scene, has been a professional musician since the age of 15.
 Following in the footsteps of his father, a percussionist, Roberto first played congas, but switched to bass at age seventeen.  Player and instrument were an instant match, the start of an illustrious career that has earned Roberto international recognition and transported him throughout much of the world.
As a young player, Roberto studied with jazz legends Ray Brown, Red Mitchell, Red Callender and master classical musicians Bob Stone, Dennis Trembly and Fred Tinsely of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.  While earning a Masters Degree in Music from USC, he received two grants from the National Endowment for the Arts.  These grants enabled him to score two compositions for symphony strings, jazz band, bassoon, and trombone, one of which, St. Michael, Servant of the Lord, was performed by the Carson Symphony Orchestra.
A dynamic bassist, noted for his inventive, high-energy improvisations and adept in both soulful arco passages and fleet percussive lines, Roberto is fluent in all jazz idioms.  He has toured, played and recorded with an impressive array of jazz artists  - see Performance Credits.
  He has recorded extensively, those albums with his own group showcasing his successful blend of African-American, Latin, and experimental jazz.
Today, Roberto Miranda balances a dual career as a performer and teacher.  He is on the faculty of the Department of Jazz Studies at UCLA and also gives private instruction .  A dedicated teacher, he passes along the jazz tradition, his performing skills and philosophy to his students.  I have all this information², he says, all this technique from a number of great teachers.

REVIEWS

Sturdy walks and atonal filigree pour from his instrument with equal grace
LA Style

The finest Bass Player in Los Angeles
JAZZ WEEKLY

The long, intense probing passage he educes from his instrument
are a constant source of amazement
Bass Player

Bassist Roberto Miranda flew all over his acoustic instrument,
strumming, snapping strings, often playing with blinding speed
Los Angeles Times

Stunning bass work that never ceases to astound
LA Jazz Scene


Selected Discography:

As Leader
The Creator's Musician - Roberto Miranda
Raphael - Roberto Miranda

As Sideman
WaterMusic - James Newton
Dauhwe - John Carter
Ocean - Thomas Tedesco
Lost In L.A. - Bobby Bradford
Live at I.U.C.C. - Horace Tapscott
Slice of Life - Vinny Golia
East 101 - Gary Bias
5 year plan - Tim Berne
Waves - Charles Lloyd
Hilltop View - Glen Horiuchi

Performance Credits:
 Tim Berne, Arthur Blythe,
Bobby Bradford, Kenny Burrell, John Carter,
Vinny Golia, Glenn Horiuchi, Charles Lloyd, Shelly Manne,
David Murray, James Newton, Horace Tapscott,
Cecil Taylor.

CHRISTOPHER A. GARCIA - Tabla, Hand Percussion, Miscellaneous Percussion, Electronics
Christopher was born, raised, and still resides in East L.A. (Never to be confused with West L.A.). His background includes performances in a wide variety of musical settings including; Jazz, Rock, World Music, traditional Mexican music, percussion ensemble, soundtracks, and cartoon music.
He attributes his musical growth to his studies with Professor John Bergamo, Pandit Tarnath Rao, Swapan Chadhouri and Leonice Shinemann where he studied tabla, while attending California Institute of the Arts on a full scholarship. Chris was also a member of the award winning Cal Arts Percussion Ensemble in 1979.
 He attributes his style(?) to Listening to EVERYTHING, logging in thousands of hours, practicing, rehearsing,performing and touring constantly with musicians interested in stretching and reinventing themselves.
 Christophersı drumming is unusual in that it incorporates not only the standard rhythms and their permutations, but also a fluency with odd time signatures and sonic textures, which he seamlessly incorporates into his playing.
His fascination for New Music and Sound as well as the advent of MIDI technology allow him the possibility of combining textures that have never before been available for the percussionist in live performance. Playing tabla next to state of the art MIDI instruments and being able to blend them musically is a challenge he continually explores.
He has been the drummer/percussionist of several critically acclaimed ensembles including:
Continuum - fusion for the 21st Century
 Quarteto Nuevo - a world music improvising chamber ensemble, including classical guitar,
 pipa(the Chinese Lute), Oboe/Saxophones,   bass, and North Indian and Middle Eastern percussion
The Michael Vlatkovich Ensembles - Avant trombonist
The Jihad Racy, Roberto Miranda, Christopher Garcia - world music trio
the World Music Percussion Quartet with Gustavo Aguilar, Park Je Chun, Takinojo Mochizuki,
and duets with Drummer/percussionist Alex Cline,
guitarist Nels Cline and
 multi woodwinds master Vinny Golia.

REVIEWS
Garcia, an excellent percussionist, really pushes the group, especially in the solo sections....his sparkling cymbal work  coloring the background...²
Cadence Jazz Magazine

Garcia's playing is vibrant and alive with passion, humor  and a good deal of technical prowess, not to mention the breadth of vision necessary to effectively translate  such an unpredictable stream of music. And the fact that the trio seem perfectly at home with unpredictably  and the endless world of musical possibilities it presents makes them perhaps
The Weekly Alibi

Selected Discography:
Passages - Continuum
Continuum - Continuum
No Zee Two S - Michael Vlatkovich Trio
Live In Toronto - Michael Vlatkovich Sextet
Why Donıt You See Me?- Michael Vlatkovich Quintet
Obligatos For Terpsichorean Dipsomaniacs - Mark Weber
 Outcast  - The Moscow Symphony

Performance Credits:
John Bergamo,
Alex Cline, Nels Cline,
 Cal Arts Percussion Ensemble,  
Collage Dance Theater, Continuum, Arthur Jarvinen,
The Moscow Symphony,  The Northern Lights Ensemble,
 Luis Villegas, Michael Pierre Vlatkovich,
World Percussion Quartet -  featuring Gustavo Aguilar - percussion from the Americas,
Park Je Chun- percussion from Korea,
Mochizuki Takinojo- percussion from Japan,
The World Jazz Ensemble,  Jeanette Wrate,  
& others

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