Born in Mexico City, O’Farrill grew up in New York, where his father, Latin jazz bandleader Chico O’Farrill was working. Arturo learnt the piano at an early age, and as a teenager he was hired on the spot by Carla Bley to play in her band at Carnegie Hall. He worked as Harry Belafonte’s musical director, before joining his father’s group, the Chico O’Farrill Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra. After his father’s death, the group was renamed the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra. Their album “Song For Chico” won a Grammy Award in 2008. O’Farrill also teaches and is Professor of Global Jazz Studies at the University of California.