JOHN
CALLOWAY
John
Calloway is a multi-instrumentalist performer, composer,
arranger, and educator specializing in Afro-Cuban, Afro-Latin
and Latin Jazz music. For over twenty-five years, in
the San Francisco Bay Area and the West Coast, throughout
the US, the Caribbean and Latin America, he has worked
with such renowned artists as Israel "Cachao" Lopez,
Max Roach, Omar Sosa, John Santos and Manny Oquendo
y Libre. John has earned great respect for his virtuoso
work on flute as a soloist and improviser as well as
for his arranging and compositions that cover the full
spectrum of Afro-Caribbean music ranging from Salsa
and Timba, to Latin jazz, to folklore music. John's
concept of writing and arranging folklore music as the
feature rather than as a supportive role is part of
the new movement of writers and performers pushing Afro-Caribbean
Jazz toward the world music movement.
As
an educator he has participated on several prominent
clinics and workshops, including the Stanford Jazz Workshop
and Jazz Camp West and the Gallery 39 project located
in Chicago. He currently teaches classes in Afro-Cuban
music at San Francisco State University and at the Jazz
School in Berkeley, CA. John is persuing a PhD. in Musicology at San Francisco State University.
Known
for his virtuoso work on flute as a soloist /improviser,
John is a frequent traveler to Cuba, jamming with the
island’s best flute players, José Luis Cortes
and Orlando Valle. As an educator, he now helps others
who want to study in Cuba through the company PlazaCuba,
of which he is the music coordinator.
Partial
Discography:
The Code John Calloway Bombo Music, 2007
Brazos
Abiertos The
Machete Ensemble Machete,
2003
SF
Bay The Machete Ensemble Machete,
2002
Diaspora John
Calloway Bombo Music,
2001
E
Music Pete Escovedo Concord,
2000
Bembon Omar
Sosa Ota, 2000
Tribute
to the Masters The Machete Ensemble Cubop,
1999
Round
Trip Rebeca Mauleón
Bembe Records, 1999
John
Santos and the Machete Ensemble The
Machete Ensemble Bembe,
1998
Ritmo
y Candela II Patato
Valdez, Orestes Roundworld, 19
African
Crossroads Vilato, "Changuito"
Quintana Round-World
Music, 1996
Machete The
Machete Ensemble Xenophile,
1995
Ritmo
y Candela Patato,
Changuito, Orestes Vilato Roundworld,
1994
John
Calloway and Diaspora
John’s
arrangements, compositions and concepts cover the full
spectrum of Afro-Caribbean music, from salsa and timba
to Latin jazz and folklore music. Throughout stands
his ability to apply the flute to whatever canvas he
paints, from soft textures and colors to aggressive
grooves and rhythms.
Featuring
a veritable showcase of the finest musicians around,
almost all of who are SF Bay Area residents and certainly
all masters in each of their own realms. Diaspora is
a welcome musical journey.
"Diaspora
is the culmination of an effort to capture what I had
been conceiving for many years: combining Afro-Cuban
and Latin Jazz music with textures and concepts from
other "World Music." While part of the work
here is conventional in style, much of it strays from
the norm. In short, it is an Afro-Cuban foundation with
a potpourri of influences from Europe, Africa, South
America, Asia and the barrio. Just as importantly, Diaspora,
as the title for this project, represents for me a sense
of solidarity with people who are away from their native
or spiritual land. To many, the word Diaspora (Greek,
"dispersion") evokes images of forced upheaval and sadness.
Diaspora, I believe, is our experience in it, the hardships
and adversity along with the joys and triumphs. Simultaneously,
it is our struggle to preserve our spiritual essence
and the honoring of our ancestors. Indeed, many of the
artists who have honored me by contributing to this
project have themselves arrived in the U.S. for economic
or political reasons, or are descendants of those who
have done so for similar reasons. They too have shared
their perseverance through the music and the spirit
of their art."
Disfrutenlo!
— John Calloway
Flute,
Alto Flute, Bamboo Flute: John Calloway
Piano: John
Calloway tracks
Rebeca Mauleón-Santana
Omar Sosa
Cyndy Hughen
Bass: David
Belove
Rahsaan Fredricks
Drums: Josh
Jones
Paul Vanwagenen
Congas: Mike Spiro, Quinto: Despedida
John Santos
Jesus Díaz, Quinto:
Bongo: John
Santos
Jesus Díaz
Timbales: Orestes
Vílato
Jesus Díaz
Percussion: John
Calloway: Chekere, Clave: Hometown Stew
Edgardo Cambón: Guiro, Cajon
Jesus Díaz: Bell
Mike Spiro: Cajon
Dana Nuñez: Kubing, kulingtang and gandingan
John Santos: Bata
Eladio "Pancho" Terry, chekere
Sax: Melecio
Magdaluyo, Ron Stallings
Trombone: Wayne Wallace
Clarinet: Melecio Magdaluyo
Vocals: Jesus Díaz
Bobi Cespedes
Edgardo Cambón
Orlando Torriente
Joey Blake
Julio Howay-Areas
Eric Rangel
Spoken voice: Ray Martinez
Gritos-
Jose Blanco, "El Grillo"
Children’s
Vocals: Noel Eckman: Lead, Christina Calloway, Natalie
Cressman, Juliana Cressman
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