Against All Odds: Angelito y La Timba de Ayer

An accomplished performing artist and a committed master drummer whose main goal is to preserve the traditional Afro-Cuban rhythms and to see more and more young people become involved in the proper learning of African hand percussion, Angel Rodríguez has actively sought out, recruited, registered and auditioned hundreds of students for merit/talent scholarships. In 1990 Angel traveled as a percussion instructor from New York to California [...]

AJAZZGO 2011 – XI Encounter in Cali City

For seven days Cali city will enjoy more than eighty jazz artists integrated in twelve bands (four national and eight international). The festival will offer the spectators twenty-six educational and artistic activities on eight different stages; there will be eleven free concerts and workshops and fifteen shows with discount prices for students and seniors. Cali City will be the place to meet a variety of extraordinary composers, musicians and interpreters of jazz [...]

“Salsa al Parque” Festival 2011 – A Tribute to the Magical Joe Arroyo

Last weekend Bogotá, the Colombian capital, celebrated another edition of Salsa al Parque, one of the biggest salsa festivals in Latin America. This is the fourteenth time the “capitalinos” (people from Bogotá) enjoyed the great event of salsa rhythm. In this opportunity the festival paid a tribute to Joe Arroyo, the greatest Colombian performer of Caribbean music who passed away last month after suffering from multiorgan failure [...]

Emiliano Salvador and his Music on Video

On August 19, 1951, Emiliano Salvador was born in Puerto Padre, a municipality and city in the Las Tunas Province of Cuba. On a day like today, he would be celebrating his 60th birthday. One of the most influencial musicians of his generation in Cuba, Emiliano Salvador is revered as a giant around the world. His pianistic vision permeates and embodies Cuban music and Afro-Cuban jazz.

Celebrating Emiliano Salvador and his Musical Legacy

Talk to anyone about Cuban piano players and invariably the name EMILIANO SALVADOR will pop up. Most will agree that Emiliano was in a class by himself. His personality and individualism as a soloist were strong enough to assure immediate recognition, yet he was never obtrusive to the point of using gimmicks. He was a brilliant pianist, composer and arranger, and a seminal figure in the resurgence of Latin jazz [...]

Yamandú Costa e Hamilton de Holanda – Live (Adventure Music)

When Brazil laughs, the world laughs with her. When she cries the world cries with her. No more is there greater evidence of this when the music of that majestic country is played, especially when musicians with the ingenuity of Heitor Villa Lobos, Pixinguinha, Guinga, Chico Buarque, Hermeto Pascoal, and Egberto Gismonti among others sing of her beauty and grand design. In that magnificent musical geometry and in the edifice of her epic tradition [...]

Eddie Palmieri – 50th Year Anniversary DVD

Eddie Palmieri is one of the most exciting and renowned Latin pianists and leader of both Latin Jazz and Salsa Orchestras. He will be releasing his first official DVD on Tuesday, August 16th, entitled “Eddie Palmieri 50th Year Anniversary DVD.” The DVD captures a unique live performance filmed at the Bushnell Memorial Theater in Hartford, CT. [...]

Daniel Smith – Bassoon Goes Latin Jazz (Summit Records – 2011)

The bassoon, that ubiquitous double-reed instrument, which featured prominently in the Baroque, Romantic and Classical eras of music, has been a relatively sparingly played—especially in solo settings—in the modern era. In jazz, which is all but synonymous with experimentalism, the bassoon has been very sparingly used. There are so few exponents of this odd, but beautiful instrument that wide gaps exist between Illinois Jacquet, Yusef Lateef and [...]

André Vasconcellos – 2 (Adventure Music -2011)

There is nothing predictable about the music of André Vasconcellos. To begin with, he is one of a crop of fresh Brazilian musicians that include guitarists Daniel Santiago and Yamandú Costa, mandolin-player, Hamilton de Holanda and, chief among them, pianist André Mehmari who are re-evaluating their native milieu and the idiom in which they write. They are doing this in relation to the Romantic Era of 17th and 18th Century music [...]

Latin Jazz Network Radio – Jukebox – August 2011 Playlist

Jukebox – August 2011 Playlist: Afrodisian Orchestra, Kiki Sánchez, Grupo Falso Baiano, Luis Bonilla, Michel Camilo, Maria Jameau, Jerry Gonzalez y Los Comandos de la Clave, David Sánchez, Stefon Harris, Christian Scott,Javier Colina Trío & Silvia Pérez, Yamandú Costa e Hamilton de Holanda [...]