Jazz Caliente

Local Latin Jazz Forecast

Robin Lloyd — Thu, 16 May 2013 19:00:00 +0000

Two upcoming not-to-be missed performances of Latin jazz, Seattle-style:

Jazz Caliente salutes 2013 JJA winners

Robin Lloyd — Thu, 02 May 2013 23:55:00 +0000

The Jazz Journalists annual awards for musicians were announced yesterday, May 1.

Jazz Caliente celebrates Latin Jazz winners Luciana Souza (Best Female Vocalists), Bobby Sanabria (Best Percussionist), and Edmar Casteneda (Player of Instruments Rare in Jazz of the Year).

Jazz Caliente celebrates Jazz April, part 2

Robin Lloyd — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 19:00:00 +0000

Jazz April birthday celebrations continue on Jazz Caliente!

Jazz Caliente celebrates Jazz April

Robin Lloyd — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 19:00:00 +0000

We've been celebrating Jazz April (Jazz Appreciation Month + International Jazz Day April 30) by posting birthday remembrances of the legendary jazz artists who were born this month.

Latin Jazz innovators, percussionists and bandleaders are well-represented in April too:

Cuban guitar master Manuel Galbán's music lives on

Robin Lloyd — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 19:00:00 +0000

Ry Cooder called him a "guitar wizard."

Jon Pareles of The New York Times wrote in 2003: “Mr. Galbán was one of the wonders of Cuban music in the 1960s. His playing pulled together two almost contradictory approaches: the floating reverb of surf guitar and the percussive, snapping sound of the tres, the small guitar that’s a fulcrum between rhythm and melody in Cuban son groups.”

Prolific percussion master Paulinho da Costa

Robin Lloyd — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 19:00:00 +0000

Paulinho da Costa was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brasil, and like many master percussionists, started exploring rhythms at a very early age.

Playing over two hundred percussion instruments, he has participated in thousands of recording sessions, Grammy Award-winning albums, hit songs, movie soundtracks, radio and television commercials. He's collaborated with everyone from Dizzy Gillespie and Quincy Jones to Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie.

A giant of Cuban music, Bebo Valdes dies

Robin Lloyd — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 19:18:35 +0000

Bebo Valdes, Cuban pianist, composer, arranger and bandleader died Friday March 22, 2013. He was 94.

Award-winning trumpeter Arturo Sandoval returns to Seattle

Robin Lloyd — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 19:00:00 +0000

A protégé of the legendary jazz master Dizzy Gillespie, a founding member of the innovative Cuban group Irakere, a renowned classical musician who performs regularly with symphony orchestras around the world: trumpeter, pianist and composer Arturo Sandoval returns to Seattle's Jazz Alley this week.

How the Puerto Ricans saved Afro-Cuban Jazz

Robin Lloyd — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 18:05:17 +0000

“If it wasn’t for the Puerto Rican community of Spanish Harlem, of the South Bronx, Afro Cuban music would never have survived in this country, and expanded to the heights that it has.”—Bobby Sanabria from the film “From Mambo to Hip Hop”

Innovators in Cuban Jazz: Grupo Irakere

Robin Lloyd — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 20:00:00 +0000

The pioneering Cuban jazz band, Irakere, nurtured some of Cuba's leading musicians who went on to gain international fame.

Latin Jazz Birthday: Willie Bobo

Robin Lloyd — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 20:00:00 +0000

William Correa was born to Puerto Rican parents in Brooklyn, and was raised surrounded by music in El Barrio. At 14 he began learning to play bongos, later graduating to conga, timbales and trap drums.

A Sampling of Seattle's Latin Jazz

Robin Lloyd — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 20:00:00 +0000

Seattle is home to a number of very talented musicians whose focus is Latin Jazz. Here are three bands well worth searching for in the clubs and concert halls of the Emerald City:

Juan de Marcos and The Afro-Cuban All Stars: The Soul Of Cuba

Abe Beeson and Justin Steyer — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 00:13:08 +0000

On a recent visit to Seattle, Juan de Marcos and The Afro-Cuban All Stars stopped by for a three-song studio session with KPLU in the KCTS 9 studios. How good was it?

Well, as host, Abe Beeson says, “If this music doesn’t move you, you’ve got no place to go.”

Watch the full interview and performance:

http://youtu.be/ayKsqYLvE0g

A KPLU Travel Club Valentine to Cuban music

Robin Lloyd — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 20:00:00 +0000

The KPLU Travel Club trip to Cuba was a great success, and the days and nights were filled with music!

Use the arrows above the picture to flip through the slide show of 15 of my music-related photos from Cuba.

A look at Juan de Marcos and the Afro-Cuban All Stars

Robin Lloyd — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 20:00:00 +0000

Cuban bandleader, composer and arranger Juan de Marcos González is known as the "Quincy Jones of Cuba" and as the architect of the Afro-Cuban All Stars (the foundation for The Buena Vista Social Club), and the founder of another successful Cuban band, Sierra Maestra.

His father was a singer for Arsenio Rodriguez's Orchestra; his uncle was Ruben González, famed pianist for the Buena Vista Social Club.

Juan's mission is the preservation of his rich musical heritage.