Atlantic Bridge / Various

Atlantic Bridge is a jazz sextet whose members are from Spain and the United States. This exciting new group was formed in the Fall of 2008 in the city of La Coruna, Spain, by Alberto Conde and Steve Brown. During the 1980's, Steve Brown made numerous trips to Spain to perform concerts and give seminars in jazz throughout the country. At that time, Alberto Conde was a frequent attendee at those workshops. They instantly became fast friends. In the ensuing years, Alberto has become one of the major forces in Galician jazz, forming a unique style in his playing and composing, and also in organizing and leading various jazz educational programs in Northwestern Spain, including the cities of La Coruna, Santiago de Compostela, and Vigo. The Conservatorio Superior de Musica da Coruna has established a thriving jazz studies program initiated and developed by Jose L. Evangelista Ventura. Three of the Spanish musicians of the group, Alberto Conde, piano, Roberto Somoza, saxophones, and Kin Garcia, bass, are faculty members at the Conservatorio. Together with Miguel Cabana, drums, a teacher in the jazz program of the Municipal School of Music of La Coruna. They are among the finest and most recorded jazz musicians in Spain. The two American musicians are, Walter White, trumpet, formerly with the Maynard Ferguson Orchestra, Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Arturo Sandoval, and The Mingus Big Band among others, and Steve Brown, guitar, the founder and director of the jazz studies program at Ithaca College, Ithaca, New York, and recently retired after a 40 year teaching career. He is also an active internationally known performer, clinician, and recording artist. The group is committed to performing original music composed by it's members and some of that music was recently written for this CD. These new compositions are heavily influenced by the rhythms, melodies, and harmonies of Galicia.