Hilario Durán Trio
Hilario Durán Trio (Cuba)
www.hilarioduran.com
www.almarecords.com
Hilario Durán - Piano
Roberto Occhipinti - Bass
Mark Kelso - Drums
Hilario Durán (Hilario Luis Durán Torres) was born in Havana, Cuba in 1953. As a young boy Hilario studied piano part time at the Amadeo Roldan Conservatory of Music, and also took private piano lessons with Andrea Mesa, a well-known Havana based piano teacher. In 1969, Hilario was accepted as a full time student at the Amadeo Roldan Conservatory of Music and was taught by the professor Oscar Lorie, one of Hilario’s treasured teachers.
During this period, Hilario became addicted to jazz and listened to recordings by Stan Kenton, Dizzy Gillespie, Charles Lloyd, Keith Jarrett, Chucho Valdes, and he also listened to recordings from Eastern European artists from Czechoslovakia, Russia, Germany and Poland. Also during this period, it was difficult to find certain American jazz recordings, so Hilario and his musician friends Justo Gabriel Perez/flautist, Mario Fabian/saxophonist and piano player, and Orestes Urfe/flautist (son of musician Odilio Urfe) listened to whatever tunes they could hear from short wave radio.
In the mid 1970s, Hilario’s career took an important new direction when the great Cuban pianist Chucho Valdes decided to leave the Orquesta Cubana de Música Moderna to work with his legendary Cuban group Irakere, and Chucho requested that Hilario Durán be his replacement. This honoured request took Hilario to new and wonderful musical territories under the musical directorship of German Piferrer, who introduced Hilario to the intricacies of the big band orchestras. With Orquesta Cubana de Música Moderna, Hilario learned and collaborated with many more great musicians that included Guillermo Barreto, El Chino Lam, Braulio Hernandez, Adalberto Lara, and Güajiro Mirabal. This orchestra also gave Hilario the opportunity to travel and perform at festivals and events in Eastern Europe and all over Cuba. The Orquesta Cubana de Música Moderna also gave Hilario the opportunity to learn orchestration from performing the scores by arrangers such as Rafael Somavilla, Armando Romeu, and German Pifferrer.
In 1998, Hilario Durán’ started a new chapter in his life, leaving Cuba and relocated in Toronto, Canada, with his wife Cristobalina and their daughter Yailen, who is also a pianist, singer, and composer. When they first arrived in Toronto, Hilario immediately immersed himself in the local music community and also worked abroad with different artists. One highlight during this period was when a performance at The Drummers Festival in New Jersey, United States – with Horacio “El Negro” Hernandez, John Patitucci, Michael Brecker and Mark Quinones, and this concert was also filmed for video.
Since his move to Canada, Hilario Durán has become an integral and important part of the Canadian music scene and community. His current musical projects as a leader include ‘The Hilario Durán Trio’, ‘Hilario Durán & Orquesta Havana Remembered’ and ‘Hilario Durán & His Latin Jazz Big Band’. Hilario is a faculty member at Toronto’s Humber College, acting as both adjunct Piano Professor and Ensemble Director. Hilario also currently performs as a special guest with international artists and orchestras.
In addition to his many awards, nominations and treasured honours, Hilario Durán recently received a 2007 Chico O’Farrill Lifetime Achievement Award from Latin Jazz USA in the United States for his outstanding contributions to Afro-Cuban jazz and Latin Jazz. This award was presented at a concert at The Artime Theater in Little Havana, Miami, Florida, where Hilario Durán was the special guest pianist of the legendary Cuban conguero, Candido Camero.
