Summer Concert Series:
Old, New, & Blue:
A Celebration of Gershwin’s Rhapsody

Dominick Farinacci is set to release his Mack Avenue Records debut, Short Stories—a compelling suite of music with a repertoire that spans genres and generations united by the trumpeter/composer’s soulful comception. Bringing together songs from Tom Waits, Horace Silver, Dianne Reeves and the Gipsy Kings as well as original compositions, Farinacci has managed to create his own musical universe, aided by musicians of the highest caliber. A short glance at the artists that he and producer Tommy Lipuma involved speaks for itself: Christian McBride, Steve Gadd, Larry Goldings, Jacob Collier, Jamey Haddad and Gil Goldstein, for starters.

Farinacci had already achieved enough stature by his mid-teens that Wynton Marsalis offered to help him set his sights on coming to New York, and by 2001, Farinacci was one of only four trumpeters in the world to be selected as the inaugural students in The Juilliard School’s first jazz curriculum. During his school years and afterwards, Farinacci immediately distinguished himself as a soloist/bandleader/composer with a vision.

Soon thereafter, Farinacci was named the first Global Ambassador for Jazz at Lincoln Center and traveled to Qatar, where his world expanded beyond his wildest dreams. Throughout the two years that Farinacci spent there, he broadened his activities to include dozens of different projects, where the goal was, through his music and outreach activities, to unite communities and overcome barriers of every sort: nationality, religion, musical taste, as well as economic and educational statuses in Qatar and Abu Dhabi. Out of this experience, Farinacci was inspired to write “Doha Blues.”

Due to his accomplishments in music and wellness, Farinacci was invited to do a Ted Talk in Washington, D.C. and has been invited to perform by the Cleveland Clinic and Mubadala Development Company on numerous occasions. Community based campaigns Farinacci has developed and led include a partnership with the U.S. Marines to help children of Hurricane Sandy, a music project working to bring together the jazz and gospel communities in Cleveland (Spirit of the Groove), a fundraiser to benefit victims of the 2011 Japanese tsunami and a interdisciplinary visiting artist series bringing national jazz artists into various academic settings.