NEWSLETTERS
CURRENT NEWSLETTER
SUMMER 2021
La ENM Performs at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, Jazz at Lincoln Center in May 2016
Dear Friends,
Summer makes me think of the special joy that music brings to our spirits and lives.
Our organization is based in New York City, and our program work for Horns to Havana takes place mostly in New York City, Havana and in New Orleans.
These great musical cities are deeply important to us. We live in these cities, have built lives and careers in these cities, and rely on them for musical learning and inspiration, especially during hard times, such as the era we hope we are emerging from now.
Enjoy this 10th-anniversary video memory of students from Havana performing (above) at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola at Jazz at Lincoln Center. It is our salute to our home city, and the mission of Horns to Havana – using music to create better futures.
This is an extremely challenging time in Cuba. Our hearts go out to all of our friends and associates, and the Cuban people, who are experiencing the country's worst humanitarian and public health crisis. We continue to celebrate their amazing spirit and Cuba's education, arts and culture, and health initiatives. A friend sent this article from The Guardian – well worth the read as we know you too are committed to our work to create opportunities through culture.
A concrete way to help out is to support the Global Health Partners’ campaign for syringes. A contribution of $50.00 purchases 1,500 syringes that are delivered directly to Havana.
We hope the Biden Administration lifts the executive orders left by the previous administration and we can all keep striving for a better world for all.
Warmly,
Susan Sillins
Co-Founder & Executive Director
Victor Goines Brings The World Together
Victor, a native of New Orleans, has lived in New York City and has traveled with us to Havana, Cuba, since 2012 to present masterclasses and performances. Currently living in Chicago, IL, where he is Director of Jazz Studies at Northwestern University, Victor is always a hit with our students and regarded as one of the foremost jazz artists and educators in music today. He has also toured globally for decades as a member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and the Wynton Marsalis Septet since 1993. Victor has performed on more than 50 releases, including Marsalis' Pulitzer Prize-winning Blood on the Fields (Columbia Records), Jazz at Lincoln Center's The Ever Funky Low-Down and Congo Square (JALC), and the soundtracks for Ken Burns' documentaries JAZZ, Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson, and The War. An acclaimed composer and solo artist, he leads his quartet and quintet, he has of 200 compositions and ten recordings. Among the many noted jazz and popular artists with whom he has collaborated are Terence Blanchard, Ruth Brown, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Ray Charles, Bo Diddley, Bob Dylan, Dizzy Gillespie, Freddie Green, Lionel Hampton, Freddie Hubbard, B.B. King, Lenny Kravitz, Branford Marsalis, Ellis Marsalis, James Moody, Dianne Reeves, Marcus Roberts, Diana Ross, and Stevie Wonder. Goines also performed on the film scores for the motion pictures Undercover Blues and When Night Falls On Manhattan and in music videos featuring Chick Corea, Garth Fagin, Bobby McFerrin, Wynton Marsalis, Marcus Roberts, and Linda Ronstadt.
Enjoy Traveling, an original composition by Cuban clarinetist Janio Abreu featuring Victor. It premiered at the 2018 Havana Jazz Festival with Janio Abreu y Aire de Concierto, and he shares his tribute to Horns to Havana upon its 10th anniversary.
And we wish him a happy August birthday!
"There have been many memorable moments over the ten years that I have been a part of the Horns Project. It is a great challenge to select only one to highlight, but the last visit in January 2020 comes to mind. Cuban professor Janio Abreu informed me thategers trembled as she stood next to me performing Billy Strayhorn's Take The A Train. She sounded amazing, and her smile was captivating. After she performed, I hugged her for her courage and talent. Betsy is the realization Horns to Havana. Each visit to Havana has proven to be better than the last, and I can't wait until our return!"
Victor Goines
Education Advisor, Horns to Havana
Director of Jazz Studies, Northwestern University
