Danilo Perez Gets Grammy Nod

Panamanian jazz pianist Danilo Perez has received a 2011 Grammy Award nomination in the Best Instrumental Jazz Album Category for Providencia.

“This record is based on the idea that whatever we do has an impact in the universe,” Pérez says. “The word ‘providence,’ for me, means standing up for the future of the next generation of children.”

Perez is the founder of the now seven-year strong Panama Jazz Festival and the Fundacion Danilo Perez which offers musical and cultural education to disadvantaged youth in Panama City.  He is also co-founder of Junglewood, an artistic community in Panama’s Mamoni Valley rainforest preserve, designed to encourage eco-consciousness. In Boston, he directs the Berklee Global Jazz Institute.

The 53rd Annual GRAMMY Awards will take place in Los Angeles at the Staples Center on Sunday, Feb. 13, 2011.  Other nominees in the Best Instrumental Jazz Album Category include Positootly! by John Beasley, The New Song and Dance by the Clayton Brothers, Historicity by the Vijay Iyer Trio and Moody 4B by John Moody.

For more information about the album, visit Mack Avenue.