After the concert, a new street sign will be unveiled at 88th Street and West End Avenue, where Chico O'Farrill lived for the last four decades of his life.
Chico O'Farrill grew up in Havana and studied at the Havana Conservatory and at the Juilliard School. He launched his career as a staff arranger for Benny Goodman and later wrote music for Machito, Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie, and Stan Kenton, as well as for his own bands.
"Chico O'Farrill is the intellect behind Afro-Latin jazz," said Arturo O'Farrill. "His training in serial music, his profound understanding and skill in big band writing, and his deep roots in Afro-Caribbean rhythms, make him unique in the history of all of these genres."