NINETY-FOURTH SEASON
Friday, May 9, 2025, at 8:00
Jazz Series
EDMAR CASTAÑEDA: FAMILY
Edmar Castañeda Harp
Birsa Chatterjee Tenor Saxophone
Pablo Bencid Drums
Andrea Tierra Vocals
INTERMISSION
ELIANE ELIAS
Eliane Elias Piano and Vocals
Leandro Pellegrino Guitar
Marc Johnson Bass
Mauricio Zottarelli Drums
Funding for educational programs during the 2024–25 Season of SCP Jazz has been generously provided by Dan J. Epstein, Judith Guitelman, and the Dan J. Epstein Family Foundation.
Chicago Jazz, DownBeat magazine, WDCB 90.9FM Jazz, and WBEZ Chicago are media partners for this event.
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association acknowledges support from the Illinois Arts Council.
Eliane Elias Piano and Vocals
Winner of multiple Grammy and Latin Grammy awards, pianist, singer, composer, and arranger Eliane Elias possesses a distinctive musical style that is one of the most unique and immediately recognizable sounds in jazz and Brazilian music. With the release of her 2024 recording Time and Again, Elias proves again that she is a multifaceted, groundbreaking artist who continues to reach new heights in a brilliant career. With thirty-two albums and over 2.5 million albums sold to date, Elias has toured in seventy-eight countries, is a four-time Gold Disc Award recipient, a three-time Best Vocal Album winner in Japan, and winner of the 2018 Edison Lifetime Achievement Award in Holland, to name a few accolades. Her 2019 and 2021 albums (Love Stories and Mirror Mirror) were both voted DownBeat magazine’s Best Album of the Year—Masterpiece.
Leandro Pellegrino Guitar
Leandro Pellegrino is an internationally acclaimed guitarist who has been steadily developing his reputation as one of the finest guitarists of his generation. Born in São Paulo, Brazil, and a graduate of the Berklee College of Music, Pellegrino has gained an impressive reputation
among his peers and had the chance to work with many important jazz musicians, including Dave Liebman, Danilo Pérez, Dianne Reeves, Manu Katché, John Patitucci, Bob Cranshaw, Terri Lyne Carrington, Romero Lubambo, Eric Harland, Donny McCaslin, Gerald Clayton, and Erik Truffaz among others.
Leandro Pellegrino is endorsed by Benedetto Guitars and currently performs on his Bravo model.
Marc Johnson Bass
Marc Johnson has had a long and illustrious career as a jazz bassist, bandleader, and producer. Johnson’s early work with the Bill Evans Trio and Stan Getz Quartet elevated him to the international stage as a marvelous accompanist and expressive soloist. Subsequent touring and recording with jazz luminaries established Johnson’s prowess as a creative improvising musician and much sought-after collaborator for his elastic sense of time and intuitive interplay. Since 2003, Johnson has performed almost exclusively with his musical partner, the pianist and vocalist Eliane Elias. His most recent album release, entitled Overpass on ECM Records, is a tour de force solo bass.
Mauricio Zottarelli Drums
The Brazilian-born and New York City–based drummer and composer Mauricio Zottarelli has been at the forefront of the jazz, Latin, and Brazilian music circles for many years. A Grammy–nominated artist, Zottarelli has received praise from many prestigious international publications such as JazzTimes and DownBeat magazines and has become a sought-after drummer.
A Berklee College of Music graduate, Mauricio Zottarelli is credited on almost 100 albums and has worked with dozens of the most important and notable artists, crossing many musical styles, including 7 Lives (2009) and Upside Down Looking Up (2017) as bandleader and solo artist.
Edmar Castañeda Harp
Colombian-born
Edmar Castañeda is widely regarded as the preeminent jazz harp virtuoso. His album Family was recently nominated for Best Latin Jazz/ Jazz Album. Since arriving in the United States in 1994, Castañeda has blended jazz with diverse styles, establishing the harp’s place in the genre through collaborations with musical legends like Wynton Marsalis, Béla Fleck, John Scofield, and Paquito D’Rivera.
In 2021, Castañeda contributed to Disney’s Encanto, performing on the soundtrack and serving as a music consultant for the film, which features original songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda.
In addition to seven acclaimed albums, Castañeda’s latest project, Viento Sur, features a nine-person ensemble from around the world, showcasing compositions commissioned by Chamber Music America’s New Jazz Works grant. He has also performed with prestigious orchestras, including the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis and the São Paulo Jazz Symphony Orchestra.
Birsa Chatterjee
Tenor Saxophone
Birsa Chatterjee is a graduate of Oberlin College and the Juilliard School, where he earned performance degrees in jazz saxophone. He regularly performs with groups such as Ulysses Owens’s Gen Y Band, the Edmar Castañeda Quartet, Bria Skonberg, the Tyreek McDole Quintet, the JAZZ HOUSE All-Stars, and Alex Laurenzi’s Water Lilies Suite. Chatterjee has also had the honor of performing with NEA Jazz Master Billy Hart in his quartet.
Birsa Chatterjee’s performances have taken him to prestigious venues like Carnegie Hall, the Blue Note Jazz Club, Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, the Django, and the Jazz Cruise.
Pablo Bencid Drums
A Grammy-nominated, Venezuelanborn, and New York-based drummer, percussionist, engineer, and educator, Pablo Bencid is an exceptionally versatile musician. He has mastered a wide range of musical styles, including jazz, Latin jazz, Brazilian, funk, and world music.
Bencid’s extensive list of collaborations includes Edmar Castañeda, Gonzalo Grau y La Clave Secreta, Albare, Samuel, the Either Orchestra, the Venezuelan Jazz Collective, Steve Turre, Mahmoud Ahmed, Mulatu Astatke, Cesar Orozco and Kamarata Jazz, the Victor Mendoza Quintet, and the Labèque Sisters, among many others.
Pablo Bencid exclusively plays Zildjian cymbals and Vic Firth sticks.
Andrea Tierra Vocals
Hailing from Medellín, Colombia, singer-songwriter Andrea Tierra creates an innovative fusion of popular Latin American rhythms, seamlessly blending them with the heartfelt essence of her poetry. Each performance celebrates her lyrical creations, where her songs, often carrying progressive themes and political stances against global injustices, are equally matched by her expressive contralto voice. Tierra’s range spans from contemporary love ballads to new-age compositions, presenting a variety of emotional landscapes.
Internationally recognized, Andrea Tierra has performed across Europe, the United States, and Latin America. In her latest project, Lluvia de Amores, Tierra takes listeners on a poetic journey through Latin American rhythms.
Funding for educational programs during the 2024–25 Season of SCP Jazz has been generously provided by Dan J. Epstein, Judith Guitelman, and the Dan J. Epstein Family Foundation.