Samora And Elena Pinderhughes March 9, 2009

Samora and Elena Pinderhughes have been dazzling Bay Area audiences since they played their first jazz concert when he was 13 and she was 9, a concert that resulted in their first CD “Catch 22” being released in 2005. Their musicality, passion and energy have thrilled audiences from the Fillmore Jazz Fest to the White House, and Carnegie Hall.

Pianist, composer, and arranger Samora Pinderhughes is 17 years old. He has won several awards for his musicality and original compositions, including the prestigious Downbeat Award for “best original composition/best song” for ‘Catch 22’, the title track on their first CD. His original compositions have been recorded and performed by a number of Bay Area artists, including Grammy nominated percussionist John Santos and his Machete Ensemble. He has performed regularly with many groups, including the Berkeley High Jazz Ensemble, the Young Musicians’ Program Junior Jazzers, S F Jazz High School All- Star Ensemble, the Latin Jazz Youth Ensemble of San Francisco, Sonidos Latinos, and Catch 22, a quartet he founded with his sister, Elena. In 2007 he was commissioned to write a piece, Caminando, which debuted at the Caramoor Music Festival and was performed at Carnegie Hall in March 2008.

Flautist and vocalist Elena Pinderhughes is 13 years old. She has performed with the Berkeley High Jazz Ensemble, the YMP Junior Jazzers, Sonidos Latinos, SF Latin Jazz Youth Ensemble and with Catch 22. In April 2007, she was the featured soloist with the Montclair Women’s Jazz Band at the Gualala Whale and Jazz Festival; the first time the producers featured a child on the main stage. In 2008, she returned as the headliner for the Gualala Jazz Festival. She has been featured in articles on jazz and in an HBO special on young musicians entitled The Music in Me. She won the “best jazz soloist” award from Downbeat magazine in 2008.

Official Website: http://yoshis.com