Tagged: Jazz Caliente

Christmas Eve is celebrated in Cuba, not Christmas Day.  

It's called Noche Buena, and it includes food, music, dancing and gatherings.

A traditional Cuban Noche Buena feast consists of plenty of roast pig (yes, a whole one), black beans and rice, fried plantains and yucca with garlic.  To wash it all down:  mojitos, cuba libres, or a sidra (sparkling hard cider).  Desserts include rice pudding and rum cake.  I can feel the food coma starting already.

This year's Grammy Awards will see the reinstatement of the Latin Jazz category that was deleted in the recent "consolidation" of ethnic music categories by the Recording Academy.

Nominated for 2013 Best Latin Jazz Album:

One of the most appealing Latin Jazz/Pop crossover artists was vibraphonist Cal Tjader (chay-der).

It's been said that Cuba and New Orleans are more than musical cousins; they are more like twins and equally responsible for much of what we call jazz.  And I've often heard New Orleans described by its multi-cultural natives as being not a Southern city, but a Caribbean city.

The 13th Annual Latin Grammy Awards will  air live  in the United States on the Univision Network  from 8–11 p.m. ET/PT (7 p.m. Central) tonight.

Here are the nominiees for the Best Latin Jazz Album:

The talented and versatile Latin jazz and be-bop pianist Hilton Ruiz died in June of 2006 in New Orleans.  He'd gone there to make a video to accompany a CD he'd recorded, a tribute to and benefit for the recently flooded and hurricane-ravaged city.