Dayramir Gonzalez

Dayramir Gonzalez, Cuban Jazz Pianist

Yamaha Artist Dayramir Gonzalez, is a three-time Cubadisco award-winner and the first Cuban national to receive Berklee College of Music’s “Presidential Scholarship” and the 2013 Wayne Shorter Award for most outstanding jazz composer. In 2012, he was a headliner in Carnegie Hall’s “Voices of Latin America Series,” invited by Chucho Valdes to represent the young generation of Cuban jazz pianists. His latest album “The Grand Concourse” was named one of the Top 40 albums of 2018 and received 4.5 stars from Downbeat.

Starting his professional career as a pianist and composer with former Irakere member, Oscar Valdes’ Afro-Cuban jazz ensemble Diákara at the age of 16, Dayramir has gone from winning Havana’s JoJazz festival in 2004 and 2005, and three Cubadisco awards for his 2007 debut album “Dayramir & Habana enTRANCé” to becoming Berklee College of Music’s first Cuban national “Presidential Scholarship" recipient. International performances include 15,000-seat stadiums with legends like Chucho and Bebo Valdes and headlining Carnegie Hall, representing the young generation of Afro-Cuban jazz. The culmination of his journey as a young Havana-native continuing and bringing the Afro-Cuban music legacy to New York is synthesized in his album “The Grand Concourse,” a name inspired by the thoroughfare that runs through the Bronx and a concept that reflects the uncommonly dynamic range of pieces from the pulsating West African bass motif found in Situaciones en 12/8 to the contemporary take on the classical Cuban tradition of the late 19th century to haunting orchestral jazz ballad of Blood Brothers. Dayramir is making his mark as a leading international composer, orchestrator, bandleader and pianist.