Welcome, Jorge Sylvester!

Born in Colon, Panama attended the Panama Conservatory of Music and the University of Panama. He received a Bachelor of Science in Music from the State University of New York College at New Paltz in 1981. A unique innovator in the idiom of creative music, Sylvester’s sound is reminiscent of another time in jazz history when artists like Dolphy and Ornette were exploding on the scene and experimenting with concepts that would ultimately revolutionize music at large. A throwback to the future, Mr. Sylvester has been on the cutting edge of that scene since 1980 when he first came to New York City. His blend of African-Caribbean Rhythms with new music is what gives Sylvester his distinguished voice. An impressive composer and arranger, his music moves, entices and stirs the imagination, as visual as it is physical, his ability to transform colors into sounds and sounds into textures place him in the company of the great expressionist painters.

By age 14, Jorge was fronting his own Caribbean dance band and writing his own arrangements and compositions. He studied privately with saxophonist, Euclides Hall, who took him along on gigs to observe from the bandstand in the “old school style”. When Jorge’s professor at the conservatory, Efrain Castro, sent him to sub for him in a band led by the great Panamanian pianist Victor Boa, Jorge was taken on as a regular.

A few years later at the age of 23, Sylvester went to Europe and spent the next ten years touring and recording with his various ensembles and as a freelancer. In 1979 he studied advanced Harmony with Argentinian Pianist, Composer Luis Vecchio in Las Palmas Canarias, Spain. It was also where for the first time Mr. Sylvester was exposed to the concept of "Free Jazz", by playing, and recording with the Luis Vecchio Quartet.
Upon his arrival to New York in 1980, Jorge studied with Dave Holland, Oliver Lake, Steve Lacy, Ramsey Ameen, Marion Brown and many others at vibraphonist Karl Berger’s Creative Music Studio in Woodstock. Since that time, Sylvester has performed with such notables as Stefon Harris, Rodney Kendrick, Karl Berger, David Murray Big Band, poet Sekou Sundiata, the Black Rock Coalition Orchestra, the Oliver Lake Big Band, Kuumba Frank Lacy’s Vibe Tribe, the Next Legacy Orchestra, Joe Bowie’s Defunkt Big Band and most recently with Nora McCarthy with whom he co-leads several groups, namely: The ConceptualMotion Orchestra, A Small Dream In Red (voice and saxophone duet) and The ACE (Afro-Caribbean Experimental) Collective – all of which also include spoken word and poetry contributed by McCarthy.
The ConceptualMotion Orchestra, conducted and orchestrated by Sylvester, is a 20-piece all original music orchestra with compositions contributed by both he and McCarthy. CMO opened the renowned avant garde VISION FESTIVAL X in New York City, June, 2005. Also in 2005, a CD entitled A Small Dream In Red, was released on the Sundown label and is a live performance of the voice and saxophone duo recorded in March, 2003 at Cleveland State University’s Drinko Hall.

In the Spring of 2006, Jorge Sylvester toured Europe and Israel with the World Saxophone Quartet filling the chair formerly occupied by its founding father Julius Hemphill, and later by Arthur Blythe, James Spaulding, Eric Person, John Purcell and Bruce Williams. Mr. Sylvester performed alongside luminaries David Murray, Oliver Lake and Hammiet Bluiett.

In January, 2007, Mr. Sylvester returned to his native Panama as a member of the Panamanian All-Stars led and directed by Danilo Perez at the fourth annual Panama Jazz Festival performing with Carlos Garnett, Santi Debriano, Billy Cobham and Renato Thoms. Later on April 23, of the same year he performs at the Jazz and Workshops Festival in Podgorica, Montenegro with the voice and saxophone duo, A Small Dream In Red with Nora McCarthy.
Currently Mr. Sylvester performs regularly in and around the New York area with The ACE Collective, A Small Dream In Red, The Nora McCarthy Qu'ART'et, The Asymmetry Quartet, and most recently with Karl Berger's Creative Music Studio Orchestra.

In the Fall of 2009, Mr. Sylvester will be recording with vibraphonist Gunter Hampel. Sylvester's ACE Collective in coordination with Sound Design studios will perform in a series of small festivals in Eastern Europe culminating in a CD to be released in 2010.

DISCOGRAPHY:
New Double CD just released on Sylvester’s label Lizoka Music : Following The Line/ Live in New York City is the documentation of his 1999 quartet featuring Monte Croft, vibraphone; Jeff Carney, bass; Terreon Gully, drums; and, a special appearance by pianist James Hurt on the Bud Powell composition Willow Grove.
2008 release entitled Waldron Ricks with trumpeter, composer Waldron Ricks, Danny Grissett, Jaleel Shaw, Nashiet Waits and Vicente Archer, featuring Jorge's Quintet version of his composition "Playground."
As co-leader of the quartet Asymmetry with pianist, Lucian Ban, Sylvester recorded a CD for Jazzaway Records released in December, 2005 entitled Playground – which is also the name of the title track a composition written by Sylvester.
In The Ear of the Beholder, 2001 (Billboard’s Spotlight, Feb. 2001) Jazz Magnet Records, features: Donald Nicks, electric bass; and, Bobby Sanabria, drums, is Sylvester’s second release as a leader.
Critically acclaimed MusiCollage (Postcards, 1996, re-released on Arkadia Records) features: Claudio Roditi, trumpet; Marvin Sewell, guitar; Monte Croft, vibraphone; Gene Jackson, drums; Santi Debriano, acoustic bass; and, Bobby Sanabria, percussion. It received a **** rating from Downbeat Magazine and won a Billboard Critics’ Choice award.
In 1999, Jorge Sylvester appeared on BET Jazz “Live From the Knitting Factory" with his group, The ACE Trio.

ADDITIONAL DISCOGRAPHY:
Magic Night (Jazz Stop Records, Madrid Spain, 1989) with the Chastang/Sylvester Sextet; Viriato Blue ( Jazz Stop Records, Madrid Spain, 1983 ); The Mass (Palmetto Records, 2000) with the Collective Identity Saxophone Quartet featuring Sam Newsom, Aaron Stewart and Alex Harding; Another Side (CIMP Records, 2000) with tenor saxophone Ken Simon Quartet featuring drummer Barry Altschul; The Blue Oneness of Dreams (Mouth Almighty Records, 1997) with Sekou Sundiata; The Essence Allstars featuring Doug Carn, Idris Muhammed and Josh Roseman (Hip Hop Records, 1997).

"Jorge Sylvester's distinctive alto saxophone sound is imbued with the volatility of Caribbean basin's complex mosaic, transformed and focused by the probing musical linguistics pioneered by the great saxophonists of modern jazz. Jorge's composer's imagination is the matchless structural coherence of his improvisational work ".

Violinist, Composer Ramsey Ameen, 12/2005 Tribes Magazine