O’Farrill’s well-reviewed and highly praised “Afro-Latin Jazz Suite” from the album CUBA: The Conversation Continues (Motéma) took the 2016 Grammy® Award for Best Instrumental Composition as well as the 2016 Latin Grammy for Best Latin Jazz Recording. In addition, his composition “Three Revolutions” from the album Familia-Tribute to Chico and Bebo also received the Best Instrumental Composition Grammy in 2018. O’Farrill’s most recent album, “Four Questions” won yet another Grammy award in 2021.

In 2020, O’Farrill’s weekly online concerts with the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra (ALJO), dubbed “Virtual Birdland”, topped the list of 10 Best Quarantine Concerts in the New York Times.  Earlier this year he and the ALJO released selections from these recordings on the critically acclaimed album Virtual Birdland, also on Zoho.

O’Farrill is Professor of Global Jazz Studies and Assistant Dean for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and has been honored as a Steinway Artist for many years.

The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra blends the drama of big band jazz, the culture of Latin music, and the virtuosity of eighteen of the world’s most accomplished solo musicians. Fifteen years of critically acclaimed performances internationally have firmly established the ALJO as a standard-bearer. Their innovative repertoire pushes the genre forward, reflecting Arturo’s dual sensibilities of contemporary, improvisational jazz, honed by his work with the likes of Carla Bley, Lester Bowie and Dizzy Gillespie, with the Latin Jazz traditions pioneered by his father, the legendary Chico O’Farrill. ALJO has collaborated with and performed the compositions of noted artists like Antonio Sanchez, Miguel Zenon, Dafnis Prieto, Randy Weston, Michele Rosewoman, Lionel Loueke, Papo Vazquez, Vijay Iyer, and many others, including Arturo himself.

Dr. West is a frequent guest on the Bill Maher Show, CNN, C-Span and Democracy Now. He made his film debut in the Matrix – and was the commentator (with Ken Wilbur) on the official trilogy released in 2004. He also has appeared in over 25 documentaries and films including Examined Life, Call & Response, Sidewalk and Stand.

He has produced three spoken word albums including Never Forget, collaborating with Prince, Jill Scott, Andre 3000, Talib Kweli, KRS-One and the late Gerald Levert. His spoken word interludes are featured on productions by Terence Blanchard, The Cornel West Theory, Raheem DeVaughn, and Bootsy Collins.

In short, Cornel West has a passion to communicate to a vast variety of publics in order to keep alive the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. – a legacy of telling the truth and bearing witness to love and justice.