Cathlene Pineda Quartet

ABOUT CATHLENE PINEDA:

“Cathlene Pineda has the ears, touch and sound of a player decades beyond the date on her license – what a surprise to find that she is at the beginning of her career. Record companies, this is your wake-up call – She’s a player to watch…and a name to remember.”

— John Schneider, The Global Village.

“Cathlene Pineda is a sought-after composer and pianist known for her “beautifully intimate and heartfelt music” ”

— Ralph Alessi, musician, composer, and creator of the School of Improvised Music

In January 2016, Orenda Records released Cathlene's second album of original music, "Passing: A California Suite." "Airy, elegant and haunting" (Cesareo Garasa, The Californian), this album was originally a piece commissioned by the Los Angeles Jazz Society and premiered at the Angel City Jazz Festival at the REDCAT theater. It is a suite of music based off of the work of Los Angeles' first Poet-Laureate, Eloise Klein-Healy, and incorporates the poetry throughout the piece, with an open atmosphere that hints at the complex beauty of the city" (Lee Epstein, freejazzblog.org).

In 2014, Orenda Records released Cathlene's first album of original compositions, "A Week's Time." Grammy award-winning artist Dave Douglas, creator of Greenleaf Music, calls the album "a personal statement, the originality and good taste of her composing reflect that...Pineda is a great artist who you will want to listen for and get to know," and the Los Angeles Times calls the album "a graceful pleasure." This collection of pieces is a reflection on the power of the ephemeral, developed when what was believed to be her father's last hours turned into a week of recovery and rebirth. Joe LaBarbara, world renowned member of Bill Evans Trio says that: "A Week's Time" is a "wonderful journey into the world of this fresh and original young musician. Cathlene Pineda and her band perform her new compositions that are unique and thoughtful, but, above all, very enjoyable to listen to."

Highlights of her recent projects include an ongoing collaboration with the Big Show Dance Company (premiered in October 2015 and again in February 2017) to incorporate original compositions with recorded memories, a commission by the Oakwood school for a collaborative dance and choral piece, and a commission to compose a piece for the Jane Goodall Institute, as well as her featured compositions in the critically-acclaimed film, "Jason Nash is Married," produced by Comedy Central Studios.

As a performer, Cathlene has worked with an extensive list of notable musicians and composers, including: Charlie Haden, Bobby Bradford, Ab Baars (From the ICP), Art Lande, Dave Douglas, Ralph Alessi, Wadada Leo Smith, Albert “Tootie” Heath, Kris Tiner, Vinny Golia, Mark Miller, and Joe LaBarbara.

As a composer and performer, Cathlene has worked with dance companies, as well as puppeteers, animators, and visual artists, Recently she performed and composed a large-scale work with multi-reedist Vinny Golia in collaboration with the dance, animation, and music departments at the Jakarta Institute of the Arts as part of the festival of Indonesian Music and Dance in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Other recent performances have included the Fillmore Jazz Festival in San Francisco, REDCAT Theatre at Disney Hall in collaboration with animator Maureen Selwood, The Beatniq Jazz Club in Calgary as a TD Bank sponsored artist, Catalina Jazz Club, the Merce Cunningham Dance Studio in New York City in collaboration with Catherine Gallant Dance, The Janet Wallace Concert Hall At Macalester College, and the Skirball Center.

Cathlene has an MFA in piano and composition from the California Institute of the Arts and a Bachelor of Music with honors from the Mannes College of Music. She is adjunct faculty at Glendale Community College, and runs a private studio of piano and composition students. She currently lives in Los Angeles with her husband, their dog, and their son, born in March 2016.

http://www.cathlenepineda.com