Dafnis Prieto

Since arriving in New York City toward the close of the 1990s as a Cuban immigrant, Dafnis Prieto has cultivated a reputation as a versatile and open-eared drummer, percussionist, composer, and arranger equally at home in post-bop and Latin jazz while also accepting the occasional avant-garde engagement. His drumming draws from a wide array of sources, among them Art Blakey and Elvin Jones as well as Latin masters Ray Barretto, Mongo Santamaria, and Tito Puente. Blakey’s example has shaped not only Prieto’s approach to the drums but also his perspective on leading and arranging for a band; several of his charts reflect a clear familiarity with the Jazz Messengers, and he has likewise absorbed lessons from the bandleading and arranging methods of pianist Eddie Palmieri, a towering figure in both salsa and Afro-Cuban music and Latin jazz.

Born in 1974, Prieto spent his childhood in Santa Clara, Cuba, roughly 150 miles from Havana. As a pre-teen he took up both guitar and percussion; after leaving Santa Clara he relocated to Havana to enroll at the National School of Music, where his studies centered on Afro-Cuban and classical traditions even as his interest in jazz steadily deepened. While still based in Cuba he performed with Canadian saxophonist Jane Bunnett, who later asked him to join her ensemble for appearances in North America. At age twenty-five, in 1999, he chose to settle permanently in New York City.

Throughout the early 2000s Prieto worked as a sideman with a range of established artists, among them Eddie Palmieri, pianist Michel Camilo, guitarist Carlos Barbosa-Lima, vibist Dave Samuels of Spyro Gyra, and pianist Arturo O’Farrill, son of Chico O’Farrill. Although many of these associations leaned toward straight-ahead jazz, he also participated in more experimental contexts alongside saxophonist Henry Threadgill. During the same period he assembled his own quintet, whose lineup featured trumpeter Brian Lynch, a former member of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, along with saxophonist Peter Apfelbaum, acoustic bassist Hans Glawischnig, and Venezuelan pianist Luis Perdomo. His debut recording as a leader, About the Monks, appeared in February 2005 on the independent Zoho Music label; Prieto produced and arranged the project and composed every piece.