Jazz Mentors V brings together three luminaries, all from various disciplines, to address the importance of finding a place of one’s own in the jazz milieu.

7 time GRAMMY nominee, percussionist/activist/educator Bobby Sanabria is approaching iconic status in the Latin Jazz world, and he has performed and recorded with everyone from Dizzy Gillespie to Tito Puente to Ruben Blades.

Master Drummer Omar Hakim has worked with the cream of the crop in the jazz and rock worlds extensively for more than 40 years, including long stints with Weather Report and Madonna.

Trumpeter-composer-author Randy Sandke has moved effortlessly from contemporary performance and compositional work to traditional jazz and swing modes countless times during his long and illustrious career.

These three mentors have accomplished much during their exciting careers.

Come hear how they did it.

The Jazz Mentors series connects emerging musicians with premier artists in New York City to discuss the business side of successful career development

Free and open to the public

Where: Local 802, Club Room, 322 West 48th Street, Manhattan

When: Monday, October 3, 5:00 P.M

On October 3, Local 802 American Federation of Musicians will host JAZZ MENTORS 5, the fifth installment of Local 802's JAZZ MENTORS. The JAZZ MENTORS!

Participants will have the unique opportunity to explore the vitally important and often misunderstood intricacies of the business and career management aspects of professional life in the music industry.

Who:

Omar Hakim

Widely acclaimed for his versatility, technological prowess and groove, Omar Hakim is one of the most successful drummers and session men of the past 40 years. Omar has collaborated with dozens of prominent artists including George Benson, Lionel Richie, Chaka Khan, Anita Baker, Bobby McFerrin, John Scofield, Urban Knights, Bruce Springsteen, Michael Jackson, Celine Dion, Jewel, J-Lo, D’Angelo, Mariah Carey, and Madonna to name a few, and has left his imprint on hundreds of recordings, including several under his own name.

Randy Sandke

Trumpeter and composer Randy Sandke has performed at festivals, clubs, and concerts around the world. He has toured Europe over forty times and performed extensively throughout Japan, the U.S., Canada, Brazil, and India.

Randy has recorded over thirty albums as a leader, primarily on the Concord, Evening Star, Arbors and Nagel-Heyer label. A recent discography, published by the Dutch jazz scholar Gerard Beilderman, runs to 53 pages. Among the artists Mr. Sandke has recorded with include the instrumentalists Michael Brecker, Benny Goodman, Kenny Barron, Dick Hyman, Mulgrew Miller, Bill Charlap as well as appearances with Diane Reeves, Sting, Elton John, Billy Joel, Bette Midler, James Taylor, Seth McFarlane, Chaka Khan, Jimmy Witherspoon, Odetta, Catherine Russell, Billy Eckstine, and Joe Williams.

Randy Sandke has played on the soundtracks of several films, including Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Cotton Club,” Neil Simon’s “Brighton Beach Memories,” “American Splendor,” and five Woody Allen movies.

As a composer, Randy Sandke has received two grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, and has had pieces performed at Carnegie Hall, the 92nd St. YMHA, the Greenwich House in New York City, and Avery Fischer Hall at Lincoln Center.

Mr. Sandke is the author of Harmony for a New Millennium and Where the Dark and the Light Folks Meet: Race and the Mythology, Politics, and Business of Jazz.

Bobby Sanabria

Drummer, percussionist, composer, arranger, recording artist, producer, filmmaker, conductor, educator, activist, multi-cultural warrior and multiple Grammy nominee - has performed with a veritable Who's Who in the world of jazz and Latin music, as well as with his own critically acclaimed ensembles. His diverse recording and performing experience includes work with such legendary figures as Dizzy Gillespie, Tito Puente, Paquito D'Rivera, Charles McPherson, Mongo Santamaría, Ray Barretto, Marco Rizo, Arturo Sandoval, Roswell Rudd, Chico O'Farrill, Candido, Yomo Toro, Francisco Aguabella, Larry Harlow, Henry Threadgill, and the Godfather of Afro-Cuban Jazz, Mario Bauzá.

As an activist he has long been a champion for the recognition of Latin jazz as a legitimate art form and its proper place of recognition in the history of the jazz continuum. In April, 2011 when NARAS, the governing body of the Grammys summarily cut 31 categories, including Latin jazz, from the awards process. Mr. Sanabria spearheaded a campaign uniting well known musicians from both the west and east coasts. A subsequent law suit filed by Mr. Sanabria and fellow plaintiffs in New York State Supreme Court finally pressured NARAS into reinstating the category this year.

His latest CD released in August of 2012 on the Jazzheads label is entitled MULTIVERSE. Inspired by the writings of Mexican author Octavio Paz and the current scientific theories of multiple universes, it blurs the boundaries between jazz, Latin, funk, rock, r & b, gospel, the avant garde and even rap. The CD was nominated in two categories for the Grammys: Best Latin Jazz Recording and Best Instrumental Arrangement - Afro-Cuban Jazz Suite for Ellington, giving Bobby a total of seven nominations for the coveted award.