Tag Archives: Arturo O’Farrill

MFM Turns 10! Musicians For Musicians Celebrates its First Decade

Report by Dawoud Kringle

Photos by Kim Schmidt, Clara Aich, and Banning Eyre

On Friday, September 5th, 2025, the Cutting Room in New York City hosted MFM’s 10th Anniversary Celebration.

After a brief and impassioned introduction by Kim Schmidt, the MFM Unity Ensemble (featuring Joe Lovano, Arturo O’Farrill, Ron Wasserman, and Andy Weintraub) opened the show. Lovano and O’Farrill started a lively conversation performing “Giving Thanks.” O’Farrill’s piano work was magnificent, poetic, and unpredictable. Lovano’s saxophone worked its way in and out of the piano with wonderful melodies. This was perhaps the first time O’Farrill and Lovano had ever played together as a duo.

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CELEBRATING a DECADE of MUSIC ADVOCACY: MFM TURNS 10!

MFM – The Birth of a Movement and A Decade of Fighting for Fairness!

By Dawoud Kringle

Back in 2015, as I was reshaping my musical path and publishing my second book, fate introduced me to one of the most extraordinary visionaries I’d ever met: Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi (SoSaLa). Our connection deepened over unforgettable moments (including an impromptu jam session at the legendary jazz man Ornette Coleman’s apartment). But it was Sohrab’s fiery passion for justice that sparked something even bigger.

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MFM ZOOM Talk Event #8 w. Grammy Award Winner Arturo O’Farrill and Zack O’Farrill

Musicians For Musicians (MFM) Presents: “Music Is Essential” ZOOM Talk Event #8 with MFM Members Arturo O’Farrill and Zack O’Farrill Speaking on the founding, current work, and vision of the Afro Latin Jazz Alliance, Arturo’s activism, and the intertwined histories of latin music and jazz.

Date: Friday, December 16, 2022
Time: 5pm to 6:30pm (ET)
Venue:  ZOOM
Ticket: free

Please register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIpdO-trzorHNSF2dK3NhLOBqcTVRYHmvKz

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MFM’s 1st Fundraiser Campaign Seeking Your “Priceless” Contribution!

MFM FUNDRAISER SEEKS YOUR PRICELESS CONTRIBUTIONS! 

Musicians For Musicians (MFM) is a non-profit Musicians Rights organization established in 2015 by professional musician Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi. MFM seeks to elevate the work of all musicians to the level of a true profession, one recognized and appropriately rewarded by society; it’s a 501(c)(6) non-tax-deductible association with the right to lobby, and exists alongside (but separate from) the musicians union.

MFM’s first fundraiser, running from October 20 through November 20, 2020 reaches out to all musicians and music lovers for financial support in helping to realize MFM’s mission.

Please contribute here.

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“MFM Speaks Out” Podcast EP 13: Arturo O’Farrill on the Evolution of Latin Jazz

Arturo O'Farrill In this episode of MFM Speaks Out, Dawoud Kringle interviews master pianist, composer, producer, music educator, music activist, and MFM Advisory Committee Member Arturo O’Farrill. The topics discussed include the evolution of Latin Jazz, O’Farrill’s work as a composer, his recent CD release and collaboration with Dr. Cornel West “Four Questions,” his involvement with Musicians For Musicians, music activism, and his spiritual philosophies on music.