Conversation with Guitarist Brian Moran

Grupo Falso Baiano is a choro group that offers a window into the history and diverse culture of Brazil. Choro is one of Brazil’s earliest popular musics, dating back to the late 1800s, and, similar to jazz, it reflects the melding of African rhythms with a melodic and harmonic structure closely resembling Baroque Classical music. G.F.B.’s exploration of choro spans nearly 100 years, including everything from the traditional to more contemporary [...]

The John Santos Sextet – Filosofía Caribeña, Vol. 1

John Santos wants to draw attention to the virtually institutionalized segregation between Afro-American and Afro-Caribbean communities. He has always been painfully aware of this and condemns it in more ways than one. The most damning condemnation of it is his daunting experiments to unify the two communities through the most extraordinary cultural collision: and that is through Filosofía Caribeña, Vol. 1. (Machete Records – 2011), a superb [...]

New CDs – October 2011 – Part 1

On this new release (the 11th under John’s Machete Records label) entitled Filosofía Caribeña Vol. 1, The John Santos Sextet is in fine form, creating compelling and socially engaged music. According to John “Filosofía Caribeña is a cross-disciplinary project (original music/spoken word, dance) that aims to illuminate Afro-Latino presence, identity, and the marvelous, undeniable, and unheralded historical connections between Black and Latino communities [...]

Reencuentros – Maraca and his Latin Jazz All Stars

Flutist, Orlando Valle, known to his followers as, “MARACA,” grew up in a musical environment. He took up the flute at an early age and was invited to join Irakere, one of Cuba’s most popular bands, at the age of twenty-two. During his six years with Irakere, he excelled as a flutist, keyboard player and arranger. To date Maraca has recorded nine albums as a leader, is the recipient of numerous awards, such as the 1st and 3rd national Composers [...]

Omar Sosa – Calma: Solo Piano &… (Otá Records – 2011)

If anything, Omar Sosa has always been a spiritual artist. Connected for generations with the practice of Santería, Sosa was surrounded by the worship together with a communion of saints, but in a truly Afro-centric manner. The particularly molten staccato of the batá drums has held sway in the melodic rhythms of his music. In fact, some of his finest earlier work has burst forth as out of a spiritual vortex shuffling with forthright swagger, churning in [...]

Conversation with Brazilian artist Antonio Adolfo – Chora Baião

Antonio Adolfo grew up in a musical family in Rio de Janeiro (his mother was a violinist in the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra), and began his studies at the age of seven. At seventeen he was already a professional musician. His teachers include Eumir Deodato and the great Nadia Boulanger in Paris. During the 60′s he led his own trio and toured with singers Elis Regina and Milton Nascimento. Adolfo wrote tunes that gained great success and have [...]

Jerry González y el Comando de la Clave (Sunnyside Records – 2011)

When considering living modern masters of the trumpet, ubiquitous in the world of brass, Wynton Marsalis comes to mind first; and Terence Blanchard perhaps, but certainly not Jerry González. This is a travesty, because in the warmth and bronzed glow of González’s sound there is a singular mystical majesty that deserves infinitely wider recognition than the trumpeter gets. Before the reason was that he played in an idiom that was more insular than [...]

New CDs – September 2011 – Part 2

Superb technical skills, musical vision and inspired playing go hand in hand on this new CD by Cuban flautist virtuoso Orlando Valle, better known as Maraca. Recorded live in concert at the Grand Theater of Havana on January 2010, “Reencuentro” is a real treat, not only because of the great artists who joined “Maraca” on this project, the excellent arrangements and compositions included, but because it comes with a DVD that allows you to participate [...]

Eddie Palmieri 50th Year Anniversary DVD

Dedicated to his wife, Iraida Palmieri, this long-awaited DVD (due to some technical issues its release was delayed a few years) serves two purposes. It celebrates 50 years of Eddie Palmieri’s prolific musical career (one of the most influential and acclaimed in Latin music). 50 years since Mr. Palmieri started to perform as a pianist, and 50 years since he formed his first band, Conjunto La Perfecta. Innovative, respected and adored by fans and peers alike [...]

Poncho Sanchez, Terence Blanchard: Chano Y Dizzy!

For more than three decades as both a leader and a sideman, conguero Poncho Sanchez has stirred up a fiery stew of straightahead jazz, gritty soul music, and infectious melodies and rhythms from a variety of Latin American and South American sources. His influences are numerous, but among the more prominent figures that inform his music are two of the primary architects of Latin jazz – conga drummer and composer Chano Pozo and trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie [...]