“Cuban- born pianist and composer Aruán Ortiz is constantly evolving, experimenting and injecting new element s into his craft ....The unusual sense of shifting movements is liberating and engrossing; the music exceedingly listenable and inventive.“
All about Jazz.

The Aruán Ortiz Trio is a powerful and electrifying unit of new music where Afro-diasporic traditions and Afro-Haitian rhythms intertwine with European contemporary music and avant-garde jazz. This post-genre immersive experience features Ortiz’s longtime musical partners, the masterful bassist Brad Jones and drummer Gerald Cleaver.

Together, they return to the road to revisit the acclaimed 2023 album Serranías: Sketchbook for Piano Trio (Intakt), a project critics have hailed as a “solid and unique new sound in today’s jazz world”(Pop Matters). While Dusted Magazine praises their “dizzying display of technique, energy, and stylistic legerdemain”, The Art Music Lounge describes their music as “completely hypnotic”, drawing the listener deep into the workings of the trio’s collective musical mind.

This tour also serves as a bridge to Ortiz’s highly anticipated 2027 album, which will mark a landmark in his thirty-plus-year artistic journey since leaving Santiago de Cuba in 1996. Often described by All About Jazz as an artist who “is not simply expanding the possibilities of jazz but redefining what diasporic music can be in the 21st century,” Ortiz is celebrated as a singular stylist who continues to venture far beyond the
boundaries of conventional Cuban jazz while remaining profoundly grounded in its rhythmic and spiritual essence. Sketchbook for Piano Trio (Intakt, 2023)

Reviews highlights:
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Kleine Zeitung, Austria (DE); ★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2 Jazztrail; ★ ★ ★ ★ All About Jazz; ★ ★ ★ ★ Kultur Tipp Magazine; Switzerland; ★ ★ ★ ★ IL Manifesto, IT; ★ ★ ★ ★ Concerto Magazine, Austria.

ARTISTS BIOGRAPHIES

Aruán Ortiz (piano)
Born in Santiago de Cuba, Guggenheim Fellow (2024) and Goddard Lieberson Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Letters (2025), composer and pianist Aruán Ortiz has been an active presence in the international creative music scene for more than two decades. Ortiz’s multidisciplinary career spans a wide range of formats, including jazz ensembles, orchestras, dance companies, chamber groups, and feature films. As a performer, he has released more than 15 albums as a leader and has collaborated on over 30 recordings. His work reflects a deep engagement with the rich and diverse musical heritage of Afro-diasporic communities across the Americas, honoring their oral and generational traditions while reimagining them within a contemporary framework. As a composer, his recent works include the chamber opera Je Renais de mes Cendres (work in progress, 2025); the acclaimed solo piano album Créole Renaissance (2025), named one of the best jazz albums of 2025 by several prestigious magazines Episodes of an Unforeseen Departure (2023); Piedras (de Ida y Vuelta) (2023); Reimagining Tropiques: Then and Now (2023); the jazz suite Pastor’ s Paradox (2022), inspired by the political legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.; among many others.

Brad Jones (bass)
Born in New York, bassist, composer, and educator Mr. Jones has recorded, performed, and toured around the world with a diverse array of artists that include Ornette Coleman, Elvis Costello, Elvin Jones, David Byrne, Muhal Richard Abrams, Sheryl Crow, Deborah Harry, Dave Douglas, Vernon Reid, John Zorn, Don Byron, Marc Ribot, and The Jazz Passengers. Brad has released three recordings under his own leadership with two separate projects: “UNCIVILIZED POISE” and “THE EMBODIMENT” with his band Aka Alias, and “POURING MY HEART IN” with the Brad Jones Quartet. Brad is also an experienced educator who has taught workshops and master classes in France, Italy, Canada, and Mexico and is part of the music faculty at Columbia University in New York City.

Gerald Cleaver (drums)
Born and raised in Detroit, drummer and composer Gerald Cleaver is a key figure in contemporary creative music, known for connecting his hometown’s jazz heritage with exploratory improvisation and sound design. After early work with Detroit mentors such as Marcus Belgrave and Donald Walden, he studied with Victor Lewis through an NEA fellowship and earned a music degree from the University of Michigan before settling in New York.
Cleaver has since worked with artists including Roscoe Mitchell, Craig Taborn, William Parker, Miroslav Vitous, Tomasz Stańko, and Jeremy Pelt, and has led ensembles such as Uncle June, Black Host, Farmers by Nature, and Veil of Names. His discography spans acoustic jazz, free improvisation, and electronic projects, reflecting an ongoing interest in structure, groove, abstraction, and texture. His dual focus on acoustic and electronic music, is highlighted in the albums The Process (577 Records/Positive Elevation), the electronica project 22/23, and ongoing collaborations that place his drumming and production at the center of forward-looking jazz and experimental music. In addition to his work as a performer, Cleaver has been an influential educator, teaching at institutions in Michigan, New York and California, and mentoring a new generation of improvising musicians.