Mexican musicians play the 2009 Montreal Jazz Festival

Hector Infanzón, Magos Herrera, Sacbé, Lila Downs, Los de Abajo. What do all these artists have in common? Besides sharing a common heritage, they represent the best exponents of a wide range of contemporary music in and out of Mexico, and they all will be performing in Montreal, Canada next July, during the Montreal Jazz Festival [...]

Arvito: The Harvey Averne Story – The Interview – Part 1

I spoke with Harvey Averne several times over the past summer, mostly by phone, where our conversations eventually turned from latin jazz and his own personal experiences as a performer to his experiences with superstar Eddie Palmieri, with particular focus on the “Unfinished Masterpiece” controversy, which we discussed at length [...]

Tiempo Libre – Bach in Havana (Sony Classical 2009)

The title of this record – Bach in Havana – should not come as a surprise, after all there is a yet-to-be-fully-discovered European Baroque and Classical music tradition that bubbles and boils in conservatories just barely under the skin of Cuban life, nestling cheek-by jowl with Santeria worship. This culture is very real and continues to turn out a stunning number of brilliant musicians [...]

Lori Bell – The Music of Djavan (Resonance Records 2008)

Despite whatever misgivings the producers may have had with regard to this project, namely that that jazz project was centered on the music of Djavan, appears to be misguided. Perhaps Djavan, among the pantheon of Brasilian musicians is least “Jazzy” and more “pop” – a thesis that is somehow incomprehensible and even nonsensical [...]

Gabriel Alegria – Nuevo Mundo (Saponegro Records 2008)

Every once in awhile there comes a musician who, when playing his or her chosen instrument, seems to carry within a vital life-force that is irrepressible, no matter what the circumstances of his or her playing. At the height of his powers, Charles Mingus was one such musician. Whether he was playing hot or cool, beautiful or ugly, he seemed to be fired up with a raw [...]

Tutuma Social Club – Afro-Peruvian jazz in NYC

Modeled after the popular Peruvian “peñas” Tutuma Social Club is the first Afro-Peruvian jazz venue in New York City. New York restaurateur and owner of Tutuma, Santina Matwey, got inspired after a trip -tour peru- organized by Gabriel Alegria, who -as Artistic Director of Tutuma- is in charge of [...]

Arvito: The Harvey Averne Story – Preamble

Sometime around 1968, I became totally disillusioned with Cuban music, or "latin" music as it was called back then. It seemed that the endless array of boogaloos and shingalings were inadvertedly channeling me into another direction. I was an aspiring conga drummer at this point in my life and my main inspiration was Mongo Santamaría [...]

2009 TD Canada Trust Toronto Jazz Festival

Make the TD Canada Trust Toronto Jazz Festival the ultimate destination this summer as it kicks off its 23rd edition as the city’s largest music festival. From a crooner to an orchestra, a guitar genius who tops any celebration of the guitar, the queen of retro funk to jam-band gods, and hundreds more, this summer’s lineup has something for every musical taste and budget [...]

Eva Scow + Dusty Brough – Sharon of the Sea (Adventure Music)

There is something in the music of Eva Scow that is so unique that the only two other musicians who come to mind when she is playing are Joni Mitchell and perhaps Bela Fleck. And here is why: As a composer and arranger, she hears music in the same playful, unvarnished and guileless manner that Joni Mitchell does. Yet like Mitchell, she is a sublime harmonic colorist [...]

Geoffrey Keezer – Aurea (ArtistShare 2008)

Geoffrey Keezer is a pianist of immense technical ability. As a musician and composer he is able to express himself in different idioms and settings. On Aurea, for instance, he makes a remarkable foray into the realm of Afro-Peruvian music. And he emerges from this colorful expedition with such a high degree of excellence that you wonder why more practitioners of jazz [...]