DESCRIPTION:
Latin Jazz pianist Michelle Pollace performs her original composition "New Beginning" with one of San Jose's premier jazz big bands, Nineteen. Michelle arranged her piece for the traditional 19-piece big band as part of the band's tribute to female jazz composers, a concert held at Theatre on San Pedro Square in San Jose, California, in early 2015. The song originally appears on Michelle's Latin-jazz CD "New Beginning," as the title song with Afro-Cuban cha-cha-cha bones and bluesy, modal overtones.

On the CD "New Beginning" (April 2013), Michelle expresses her love of both jazz and Latin rhythms, inspired particularly by the small piano-centric combos of Michel Camilo, Hilton Ruiz, and, in his explorations of Latin jazz, McCoy Tyner. Her arrangements of jazz, Brazilian, and Afro-Cuban standards are original, and her own compositions honor the roots of the music while adding a new voice. The CD garnered accolades in the press as well as airplay on around 200 satellite, public, and college radio stations, plus it made the "most added releases" list in JazzWeek. It features some of the San Francisco Bay Area's top-call musicians -- producer Rebeca Mauleon; David Belove on bass; Phil Hawkins on drums; Carlos Caro and Michaelle Goerlitz on percussion; and saxophonist Kristen Strom. The CD and examples of the audio are available at Michelle's website as well as at CD Baby, iTunes, Amazon.com, and more.

Here's a sample of what the press is saying:

"Pollace's music overflows with a strong artistic command, an authentic connection to the source material, and an infectious sense of cool...." -- by Chip Boaz, Latin Jazz Corner, Album of the Week

"Pianist Michelle Pollace has a strong commanding presence on New Beginning. Like a baker, she has a way of gently whipping rhythms until they are cohesive and taut. ... Pollace digs in on every track, and songs like 'Forro' and 'Bright Eyes' evolve into mini-suites." -- by Marc Myers, JazzWax.com, CD Discoveries of the Week

"As we search for the best new music on WEMU, we will often feature someone you've never heard before but think is worth your time. Pianist Michelle Pollace, who we premiered this morning on 89.1 Jazz, is one such artist. ... This disc has [a] crucial component of good Latin jazz -- it is loads of fun!" -- by Linda Yohn, WEMU 89.1 FM blog, "Latin Jazz has a 'New Beginning' with Michelle Pollace on the Keys"

"Striking out on her own and being a mom are not the only beginnings pianist Michelle Pollace has to be proud of; with New Beginning Michelle reveals the depth of her compositional skills and her talents as a Latin jazz pianist of note." -- by Edward Blanco, CD Review: Allaboutjazz.com

"This is a CD full of rich melodies and rhythms that are infectious. ... This is obviously a highly skilled group of musicians and the ensemble effect is intricately connected. -- CD Review by Grady Harp on Amazon.com (5 of 5 stars)

"Think 'Somewhere over the Rainbow' has been done to death yet? You couldn't be more wrong ... [Michelle's] version even makes one wonder why no one's tackled it in this fashion before. -- Mark S. Tucker, CD Review: Folk & Acoustic Music Exchange

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Michelle has embraced many musical styles over her career; her performance and recording credits include orchestra member in Lou Harrison's internationally renowned Gamelan Si Betty (Indonesian orchestra), keyboardist for Chepito Areas (Santana's original percussionist/arranger), co-leader of blues-rock band featuring Robbie Hoddinott (Kingfish, Bob Weir), chorus member in a Gilbert & Sullivan theater company, bassist for a grunge band, and more. Besides studying classical and jazz piano (through SJSU and privately with Martan Mann), she has studied Latin piano/arranging (privately with Rebeca Mauleon) and Latin percussion (with Dan Sabanovich). Michelle is also co-author of a music-education book/CD called Musicreation.

Before launching her current band, Michelle co-led Zarate Pollace Project with guitarist Abel Zarate (who also wrote hit songs for Malo and Willie Bobo). ZPP enlisted the musical contributions of many Bay Area luminaries, including John Santos, Paul VanWageningen, Dave Belove, Michael Spiro, Curtis Ohlson, and others to realize the blend of jazz, fusion, Brazilian, and Afro-Cuban styles comprising ZPP's music. ZPP released the CD "Soul Redemption" (2005), which garnered worldwide radio airplay and favorable reviews.