GARY MORGAN (woodwinds-player, bassist, composer, arranger, bandleader) was born January 15, 1939 in Santiago, Chile, but grew up in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Now living in New York, his PanAmericana! 20-piece Latin Jazz band, founded in 1997, has soared to international success, recognized by leading critics as “sonically meticulous… upholding a level of performance in the arena of Latin Jazz that is currently unparalleled…a hard-driving powerful sound diced with finesse solos…a tremendous dose of musical joy”.

PanAmericana! is composed of some of the finest Latin jazz musicians in New York with a woodwind section of five, a horn section of six with two players on the French horn and a rhythm section with percussions.

While still living and working in Toronto, Morgan studied composition and woodwinds, led jazz bands, and was a mainstay player in the Canadian recording and television industries. He had a lifelong proclivity for Latin music, fuelled by frequent trips to Brazil and Cuba to immerse himself in the propulsive rhythms, melodic traditions, and harmonic richness of the music, passions which Morgan would later exemplify in composing and arranging for PanAmericana!

Gary Morgan was featured on bass during the “Sound of Toronto Jazz” Concert Series at the Ontario Science Centre on March 12, 1979 with Memo Acevedo’s Banda Brava.

AWARDS:

Gary Morgan has been the recipient of composition grants from the Canada Council, The National Endowment of the Arts, and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.

He was chosen as a charter member of the BMI Jazz Composers’ Workshop under Bob Brookmeyer and Manny Albam.

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