Concert: Kiyoko Layne and Marcus Persiani: Solo Concert

Born in Kagoshima, Japan, Kiyoko Layne played piano and alto saxophone in her youth and later formed an acapella band while working as a nurse. She began singing to her patients and was overwhelmed by their reaction. When she saw them crying she realized the power music has to move people’s hearts. She joined a well-known Japanese Gospel Choir in 2000, and then, inspired by the choir director to study in the U.S., she attended Berklee College of Music, graduating in 2007. Since moving to Harlem in 2008, Kiyoko has performed in numerous jazz clubs, in the house band at the Jazz Foundation of America's Monday Night Jam, and at United Nations Plaza, while also working as music librarian for the Duke Ellington Orchestra and teaching. Her first CD, "Kiyoko in Harlem", came out in 2009.

Marcus Persiani
The versatile pianist Marcus Persiani has worked with a wide variety of major artists including Willie Colon, Ray Mantilla, the Sugar Hill Quartet, Vanessa Rubin and George Coleman. Originally from Chicago, where he received both a formal education (B.A. from American Conservatory) and an informal one (in clubs and dives), he moved to New York City in 1989 and encountered the “Father of Latin Jazz,” Mario Bauza, with whom he toured and recorded. Marcus’s compositions and arrangements were featured on the brilliant trilogy of albums recorded by Bauza’s legendary Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, one of which was nominated for a Grammy. Marcus’s arrangements have been performed by many other stellar ensembles as well.

Co-Presented by the Jazz Foundation of America, supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and by the Howard Gilman Foundation.