Aug 26, 2025 1:53 PM
Blindfold Test: Buster Williams
Buster Williams, who at the age of 83 has been on the scene for 65 years, had never done a Blindfold Test. The first…
Modern Warrior LIVE is trumpeter, educator and humanitarian Dominick Farinacci’s most ambitious multidisciplinary work to date.
(Photo: John Abbott)Cleveland-born trumpeter, humanitarian and educator Dominick Farinacci has spotlighted mental health, social impact and education through his music and initiatives in a career that has spanned more than 25 years.
This year finds Farinacci on tour with a slew of solo dates and residences across North America, as well as performances with his trio TRIAD (with accordionist Michael Ward-Bergeman and vibraphone/marimba player Christian Tamburr) and Modern Warrior LIVE shows. Highlights include a Washington Performing Arts residency of Modern Warrior LIVE in Washington, D.C., stops at Dizzy’s at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York, a performance at the 46th Annual Tri-C Jazz Fest at the Ohio Theatre and more.
Following the cancer diagnosis of his mother in 2011, Farinacci turned to music to process the difficult emotions he faced. This led to the creation of his piece “A Prayer For You,” which became the subject of his TED Talk at the Kennedy Center in 2014. “I found the psychological weight of this reality pushed me further away from helping my mom,” said Farinacci, a 2005 Juilliard graduate. “So I set out to write a song that contrasted the uncertainty, darkness and chaos with a predictable, serene, beautiful and simple melody. That process helped me gain the mental strength needed to better care for her.” A decade later, TRIAD recorded the composition for its debut album.
The creation and success of “A Prayer For You” came at a time when Farinacci was named ambassador to Jazz at Lincoln by Wynton Marsalis, leading a cultural diplomacy initiative in Doha, Qatar. “There was a heightened presence of U.S. military in the region at the time, and I met many service members,” Farinacci said. “I learned more about the trauma they faced during deployment, and although I couldn’t imagine what they went through, it made me think about how our own trauma impacts our lives and the people around us.”
The convergence of these experiences led Farinacci to craft his most ambitious multidisciplinary work to date: Modern Warrior LIVE, an immersive music and storytelling production featuring U.S. Combat Veteran Jaymes Poling, who recounts his experience across three tours in Afghanistan, the psychological challenges he faced coming home and his journey managing his mental health. “The musical score I wrote seamlessly weaves throughout Jaymes’ story, evolving with his journey,” Farinacci said. “I wanted to present this deeply personal story in a unique way that can empower those who need to hear that growth is possible. Veterans are some of the most resilient individuals, and I think people of all walks of life can be impacted by their stories.”
Farinacci and Poling formed a national non-profit and a touring company to bring the production to veterans and other communities across the country. To date, Modern Warrior LIVE has been performed more than 150 times and has established national partnerships with mental health organizations and initiatives.
Farinacci recently released three volumes of EPs titled Reflections featuring songs he grew up playing in a series of collaborations with pianists including Aaron Diehl and Dan Tepfer. The series has received more than 12 million streams on Spotify to date. “I wanted to document beautiful melodies I grew up playing, and in the spirit of my early influences,” he said. “My musical interests have vastly evolved, but that foundation represents my sense of melodic development across all aspects of my musical world.”
Farinacci is the director of the Tri-C JazzFest Academy, home for precollege jazz education in the Cleveland community.
To learn more about Farinacci, current tour dates and details on upcoming recordings, CLICK HERE. DB
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