
Aruán Ortiz on The Jazz Standard with Brenda Sisane
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Aruán Ortiz is a Cuban-born pianist, composer, and scholar whose work sits at the crossroads of Afro-Cuban ritual, contemporary jazz language, and structural experimentation. Whether in solo piano, trio settings, or extended ensembles, Aruán Ortiz approaches music as inquiry; he asks how rhythm carries history, how form can hold identity, and how improvisation can remain free while still being accountable to ancestry.
Ortiz has collaborated with artists such as Andrew Cyrille, Greg Osby, Wadada Leo Smith, and Don Byron. He has become widely recognized for his ability to translate Afro-Cuban rhythmic systems into modern jazz improvisation - not as folklore, but as compositional logic.
Ortiz has collaborated with artists such as Andrew Cyrille, Greg Osby, Wadada Leo Smith, and Don Byron. He has become widely recognized for his ability to translate Afro-Cuban rhythmic systems into modern jazz improvisation - not as folklore, but as compositional logic.

