FREE CONCERT
General Admission (Seated) - Doors open at 6PM
Amherst College jazz piano instructor, Eugene Uman, performs at The Drake. This concert is FREE. Doors open at 6 PM.
Eugene Uman’s Acoustic Convergence Quartet
This quartet performs the compositions of Eugene Uman, many of which are based on the indigenous rhythms of Colombia, South America. All four of its members have distinguished careers as recording and performing artists. Listeners can expect to hear a diverse program that features original music based on Colombian rhythms such as cumbia, currulao, passillo, bambuco as well as Cuban rhythms including rumba and bembe.
Eugene Uman, piano and compositions
Eugene Uman is the Artistic/Executive Director at the Vermont Jazz Center (VJC) where, for twenty-six years, he has produced over three hundred concerts and overseen educational programming, including their Summer Jazz Workshop. While under Uman’s direction, the VJC received a CMAcclaim award from Chamber Music America, and a resolution of praise from the State of Vermont, honoring its impact on the community and jazz-music.
Uman received an MA from Queens College in Jazz Performance where he was a recipient of a Eubie Blake Scholarship. He has served as a Fellow in composition at the MacDowell Colony and at the Marble House Project. Uman lived for 4 years in Medellín Colombia where he initiated and designed the curriculum for the Jazz Studies Program at La Universidad de EAFIT and taught at El Colegio de Música and La Universidad de Antioquia. He continues to visit Colombia annually to perform and teach. Uman is the recipient of the 2022 Vermont Arts Council, Ellen McCulloch-Lovell Arts Education Award. He has taught at the 3rd Street Music Settlement House in NYC, Marlboro College, UMass Amherst, Greenfield Community College and the Governor’s Institute of Vermont, offering classes and workshops in piano, composition, theory and harmony, improvisation, pedagogy, and jazz history and appreciation.
Over the years, Eugene has performed with George Garzone, Donald Byrd, Howard Brofsky, Nat Reeves, Freddie Bryant, Jerry Bergonzi, Sheila Jordan, Nancy Stagnitta, Marvin Stamm, Eguie Castrillo, Wanda Houston, Dave Stryker, Kevin Mahogany, Jay Clayton, Carlos Averhoff, Francisco Mela, Stacy Dillard and many others. He has released two albums of original music with his group, The Convergence Project, which features compositions influenced by the rhythms of Colombia. Uman has also appeared as a sideman and producer on numerous recordings; three of his compositions were included on Sammy Figueroa’s Grammy nominated album, In Walked Sammy. Eugene’s work has been commissioned by the Big Band de Medellin, the Windham Orchestra, Juno Orchestra and 10x10 Upstreet Arts Festival.