BAAMS Presents: LIVE AT STUDIO 9, MINO CINELU and the BAAMS’ Faculty Band

Whether playing percussion, drums, guitar, keyboards, or singing, Mino brings his infectious personality full of warmth and joie de vivre, coupled with decades of intense study in a wide variety of international styles — from the streets of Paris to Dakar, the Mississippi Delta to Japan, and from the Caribbean to the Middle East. He’s equally comfortable being the consummate accompanist as he is being the center of attention, and can command an extensive ensemble as well as perform his own breathtaking one man show.

Miles Davis, Sting, Weather Report, Herbie Hancock, Tracy Chapman, Peter Gabriel, Stevie Wonder, Lou Reed, Kate Bush, Tori Amos, Vicente Amigo, Dizzy Gillespie, Pat Metheny, Branford Marsalis, Pino Daniele, Earth, Wind & Fire, and Salif Keita – a small selection of the international jazz, world, and pop stars with whom Mino Cinelu has worked since the late ’70s. All of which is to say that Mino draws on a legacy of sound and space that inform his work while staying current and modern.

Born in Paris to a French mother and a father from Martinique, Mino mainly taught himself, first guitar and bass, and then drums and percussion. His childhood – more typical then than now – was chaotic and without supervision. As such, his professional music career launched at age 15.

By the time he turned 24, Cinélu had been living in New York City for two years, gigging with some of the city’s top players in jazz, funk, and gospel, when he was approached by a man who’d mark a major turning point in his life and career: Miles Davis. Beginning with the concerts that furnished the critically acclaimed We Want Miles (1982) album, Cinélu joined Davis’ band.

In the years that followed, Mino has released albums under his own name, and appeared on countless records as a composer, co-leader, guest or sideman. He has scored music for films, documentaries, and commercials. For the film La Californie, Mino was nominated as one of the 10 best film composers at the Cannes Film Festival.

Bearer of the prestigious Knighthood of France’s “Ordre des Arts et Lettres,” Mino is also a singer and composer heard on recordings including the Grammy® nominated Weather Report Album: Sportin Life, featuring Mino’s voice and also his composition “Confians.”

Mino has earned a reputation as a master-of-all-trades. He has solo album credits of his own: Mino Cinélu, Quest Journey, and La Californie. In addition, he produced the album Carnet De Bord for French singer/songwriter Bernard Lavilliers as well as Swamp Sally, a duo release with himself and pianist Kenny Barron. Mino was also the co-leader and producer of World Trio featuring himself, guitarist Kevin Eubanks, and bassist Dave Holland.

We’re delighted to continue this 2024 Monthly Series BAAMS PRESENTS: LIVE AT Studio 9 at the Porches’ Inn. Join us for a special evening of music, a benefit performance for BAAMS — the Berkshires’ Academy for Advanced Musical Studies — lead by Richard Boulger, trumpet and flugelhorn, Dario Boente, piano and keyboards, and Tony Lewis, drums and percussion, along with featured guest Mino Cinelu.

BAAMS’ Founder and Executive Director Richard Boulger is a North Adams native who spent 20 years teaching and working as a recording artist in New York City where he also worked with many of New York’s underserved communities’ schools before returning home in 2020. In 2022, BAAMS established its academy building in the Heritage State Park, North Adams. Boulger was a longtime private student and protégé of Trumpet legends Freddie Hubbard and Donald Byrd, and has recorded with such luminaries as The Allman Brothers Band, Randy Brecker, John Hicks, Trombonist Steve Davis, R&B legend “Joe”, and has produced three highly-acclaimed recording projects as a leader.

Grammy and Latin-Grammy winner Argentinian born pianist and composer Dario Boente, is equally at home performing romantic Argentine and jazz compositions on a grand piano, as he is programming world-beat electronica. In 1999, Dario moved to New York City and has since released ten albums and compilations as a leader, featuring well-known Jazz musicians such as five-time Grammy Award winner Antonio Sanchez on drums, guitarist Ronny Jordan, Latin Grammy winner composer and pianist Fernando Otero, harmonica player Gregoire Maret, flutist Jorge Pardo, and saxophonist Miguel Zenon, among others.

For Tony Lewis, music is all about family. As a child growing up in the Bronx, New York’s Co-Op City, Tony’s early influences being around family and friends would prove to be a launching pad that led him to attend New York’s prestigious LaGuardia High School of the Arts.

While a student at LaGuardia High School of the Arts Jazz program, under the directorship of Justin DiCioccio, Tony auditioned for and won a spot with The McDonald’s Jazz Band where at the age of 16, Tony was featured and performed on “The Merv Griffin Show” with jazz titan, Dizzy Gillespie.

Shortly after attending New Jersey City University, Tony began his professional career as a drummer, recording artist, producer, and educator. Tony has toured, performed, and recorded with such music luminaries as Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Goodman, Sting, Little Richard, Sam & Dave, Cindy Lauper, The Temptations, Craig Harris, and many more.

Studio 9 is the perfect setting for this intimate concert, a performance and recording space Richard Boulger describes as “a musical instrument unto itself.” With gorgeous, pure acoustics competing only with the lovely views of the now expanded campus of the Porches’ Inn in North Adams, directly across the river from Mass MoCA, audience members are always awed by the atmosphere.

Doors open: 6:30pm.

All proceeds will help support music education at BAAMS, which provides after-school and Saturday music study, as well as a summer jazz-band day camp for students ages 10-18, of all experience levels. BAAMS also contributes to the region’s cultural richness in celebration of music and the arts through its various events presented throughout the year. For more information, contact: 413-663-4424 or message to: [email protected].