Chucho Valdes at the NJPAC: Performance Review

The show opened with pianist, composer, and bandleader, Hiromi Uehara — a striking and youthful prodigy who epitomizes a new generation of artists whose music transcends conventional boundaries. Visually, Hiromi makes a striking first impression. She is 23, looks younger than her years, and projects an informal, playful demeanor that flies in the face of convention. Aurally, you quickly realize that you are in the presence of a force of nature [...]

Puerto Rico Jazz Jam 2012

It was an exciting opening night for the third edition of the Puerto Rico Jazz Jam, an event created by trumpet player, composer, arranger and now producer Humberto Ramirez. Two extraordinaire Jazz musicians started this year’s Puerto Rico Jazz Jam 2012. The opening act was trumpet player Julito Alvarado and his Latin Jazz Band. Alvarado Latin Jazz Band combines a young musician, drummer Khalil Ed Gonzalez with some Jazz masters from Puerto Rico [...]

Andy and Jerry’s: A Tribute to the González Brothers

Arturo O’ Farrill, the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra and guest conductor, Miguel Blanco paid a heartfelt tribute to cultural warriors, Jerry and Andy González at Peter Norton Symphony space, a performance space on New York’s upper West Side. The highly anticipated event was promoted as “Andy and Jerry’s: A Tribute to the González Brothers,” an allusion to Andy and Jerry’s apartment in the Bronx during the 1970s, a place where veteran and second generation [...]

“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 [...]

The Paul Austerlitz Quartet – Live at The Stone

On Sunday March 29, Paul Austerlitz and his quartet transformed a performance space on New York’s Lower East Side into a house of worship. In a set that was short but sweet, the quartet showered the audience with a fusion of post-bebop, Afro-Dominican, Haitian and Nigerian rhythms, invocations, prayers and shades of Igor Stravinsky. The event took place at The Stone, a community based, not-for-profit performance space [...]

Favorite Sons of Cuba and New Orleans explore the common roots of Jazz / Cuba Nola – More than the Spanish Tinge

Fresh from a triumphant trip to Cuba, Arturo O’ Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra kicked off their fourth season at Symphony Space with Cuba Nola – More Than the Spanish Tinge, a celebration of the music of New Orleans and Cuba and an exploration of the common roots of jazz [...]

Chucho Valdés & the Afro Cuban Messengers Live at Lincoln Center

Maestro Chucho Valdés and the Afro Cuban Messengers performed to a full-house at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Allen Room. The show was part of the institution’s Afro-Cuban celebration, which served to promote cultural and artistic exchange between American and Cuban jazz musicians and culminated in a series of events in Havana, Cuba and New York City [...]

Hilario Durán celebrates 35 years of musical career at the Royal

Pianists abound in the Island of Cuba. Excellent pianists indeed, but only a selected group meet the high standards of virtuosity. Hilario Luis Durán Torres, better known as Hilario Durán belongs to that group. His nickname “Con Tumbao” fits him perfectly well. His percussive attack is killer. Born in Havana, Cuba in 1953, Durán never dreamed he would become a Canadian citizen one day, even less that he would make Toronto his permanent residence [...]

Jane Bunnett and The Cuban Piano Masters at Koerner Hall, Toronto

This unique musical group was first conceived in Havana, Cuba in 1992 at the National Theatre with the great Cuban pianists José María Vitier and the late Frank Emilio. It was brought to fruition in Canada in 1993 with a ground-breaking concert at the Glenn Gould Theatre (CBC) and became Jane Bunnett’s recording debut for EMI/Bluenote [...]

An Evening with Eddie Palmieri and La Perfecta 2

La Perfecta 2 is the reincarnation of Conjunto La Perfecta, which came to be known as La Perfecta and whose over arching mission was “to destroy the dancer’s.” The band reigned supreme from 1961 to 1968 and was notorious for its trademark duo trombone sound and killer rhythm section. La Perfecta is one of the most influential and imitated bands in the history of Latin music [...]