Emilio Teubal

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Pianist/Composer Emilio Teubal was born in Madrid, Spain in 1976. At that time, his parents were in exile from the dictatorship government in Argentina. After a year in Spain, the whole family moved to Mexico City where they spent five years. In 1984, with the return of the democracy, his family moved back to Argentina. Once in Buenos Aires, Teubal started playing the piano at the age of nine. He studied at the National Conservatory, and composition, arranging, and orchestration with private teachers. He was a very active performer in the tango and jazz scene of Buenos Aires until 1999, when he relocate to New York City to continue his musical studies, earning a BFA in Music from the City College of New York, graduating Magna Cum Laude. He also received the Bushwick Composition Award for two consecutive years. At CCNY his teachers included prominent jazz figures such as Marc Copland, Scott Reeves, Bruce Barth, Mike Holober, John Patitucci, Cliff Korman and Ron Carter.

Emilio has performed as a leader in some of the most prestigious venues in New York City, among them the Iridium, Joe's Pub, the Knitting Factory, BAM cafe , Cornelia Street Cafe, the 55 Bar, as well as major jazz festivals.

In 2007, Emilio was awarded Meet The Composer's prestigious Van Lier Fellowship, which provides support for talented, culturally diverse young people who are seriously dedicated to a career in the arts.

His credits include performances and recordings with artists like the Grammy award winners Raul Jaurena and Fernando Otero, Erik Friedlander, Hector del Curto, Bob Mover, John Benitez, Lucia Pulido, Pedro Giraudo, Lisandro Adrover, Miguel Bertero, and Astor Piazolla's legendary violinist Fernando Suarez Paz. Teubal has also been a steady member of different New York based bands like Sebastian Cruz's Coba, and Los Chantas Tango Group, and the Marta Gomez Group, with whom he has toured the U.S., Mexico, Spain and Argentina.

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Emilio Teubal: Musica Para Un Dragon Dormido

Musica Para Un Dragon Dormido features Emilio Teubal (piano, Korg SV-1), Sam Sadigursky (clarinet, tenor & soprano saxophones, bass clarinet, flute), John Hadfield (percussion), Moto Fukushima (six-string electric bass), Erik Friedlander (cello), Satoshi Takeishi (percussion, cajon)

Argentinean pianist/composer Emilio Teubal's  complex and beautiful third album as a leader, Musica Para Un Dragon Dormido, was released on April 1, 2013 on Brooklyn Jazz Underground Records. The album features some of Teubal's longtime collaborators, and is Teubal's follow up to his previous critically acclaimed CDs, La Balteuband (2006), and Un Monton de Notas (2009), which Jazzchicago.net called "one of the strongest Latin jazz albums of the year . . . highly recommend for listeners looking for something new."

"Without being too superstitious about it, Musica Para un Dragon Dormido (music for a sleeping dragon), is a reference to the Chinese horoscope as we contemplate 2012, the year of the Dragon. During 2012 I became the father of a little 'dragon', and being an older dragon myself, this event made think about the strong connection with this new creature, and the huge footprint that year left on my being," said Teubal.  When the pianist released previous recordings he defined the music as "Argentine jazz", which to him meant, original compositions using elements and rhythms from Argentinean music, plus improvisation. He feels that, "this label it’s not accurate for this album. Of course I hear a lot of Argentinean influences on it: Un simple Objeto has a strong Chacarera flavor (chacarera is a folkloric Rhythm from the north of Argentina). The Constant Reinventor has a 'bordoneo,' (a guitar-like figure very common in Tango music) and several other typical things from Tango music, etc," explained Teubal.

For Teubal, however, the stylistic accuracy of these Argentinean elements is not the goal on Musica Para un Dragon Dormido, it's just one of the many habitants coexisting in the music. That artistic clarity gave him the freedom to include elements from other world music, and also kept him wide open to what these amazing musicians heard in his music, without being stylistically rigid about it.  "I am very happy with the final result.  The music still sounds Argentinean but it has a strong cosmopolitan New York sound in it, with strong hints from other world music. At the end of the day we are all coexisting in this city, and on this album, bringing our own influences to the palette and creating a new sound fed by all those influences."