Arturo O'Farrill was born in Mexico and grew up in New York City. Educated at the Manhattan School of Music and the Brooklyn College Conservatory, Arturo played piano with the Carla Bley Big Band from 1979 through 1983. He then went on to develop as a solo performer with a wide spectrum of artists including Wynton Marsalis, Dizzy Gillespie, Steve Turre, Papo Vazquez, The Fort Apache Band, Lester Bowie, and Harry Belafonte. In 1995, Arturo agreed to direct the band that preserved much of his father's music, Chico O'Farrill's Afro Cuban Jazz Orchestra, which has been in residence at New York City's Birdland for the past few years as well as performing throughout the world. Besides recording three albums as a leader for Milestone Records, 32 Jazz, and M & I (Bloodlines, A Night in Tunisia, and Cumana Bop), Arturo has appeared on numerous records including Habanera with Alberto Shiroma, and the soundtrack to the critically-acclaimed movie Calle 54.

Arturo was a special guest soloist at three landmark Jazz at Lincoln Center concerts Afro-Cuban Jazz: Chico O'Farrill's Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra, November 1995; Con Alma: The Latin Tinge in Big Band Jazz, September 1998; and the 2001 Jazz at Lincoln Center Gala: The Spirit of Tito Puente, November 2001. In March 2002, he was also the featured artist in Jazz at Lincoln Center's Jazz in the Schools Tour, when he led a Latin jazz quintet for 24 educational performances that reached over 5,000 people throughout NYC metropolitan schools.

Arturo's father, "Chico" O'Farrill is regarded as one of the master architects of Afro Cuban Jazz. . Born into an Irish-German-Cuban family in the Havana region of Cuba, Chico was slated to follow in the family tradition and enter into law practice. Luckily as a teenager he was sent to study in the United States, where he heard the sounds that would change his life and revolutionize jazz, the trumpet and the big band. After studying at the Havana Conservatory and performing in the nightclubs, Chico decided to move to New York where he continued his musical studies with Stefan Wolpe of the Juilliard School and gradually integrated himself into the New York Jazz scene. It was there that Benny Goodman, who had trouble pronouncing his name, dubbed him "Chico" and hired him almost immediately as a staff arranger. During his tenure with Goodman, O'Farrill penned one of Benny's biggest big band hits, "Undercurrent Blues".

CHico's music is celebrated to this day, performed by his orchestra "The Chico O'Farrill Afro Cuban Jazz Orchestra" which he conducted during his lifetime at New York's famed jazz nightclub Birdland at 315 West 44th Streets between 8th and 9th Avenues in New York City. The Orchestra is in its eighth year of performing on Sunday nights at Birdland,. Jazz at Lincoln Centers' Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra also includes Chico O'Farrill's music in its repertoire. Both orchestras are directed by Arturo O'Farrill.

Hear the Arturo O'Farrill Qarter Tuesday, July 15th at Steamers. Steamrs is localed at 138 West Commenwealth in Fullerton.

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