Albums
Brampton Global Jazz & Blues Fest Report – Part II
Brampton, a city north west of Toronto played host to its second annual jazz and blues festival this past August 9th through to the 12th.
Report by Paul J. Youngman, August 2012
The city did it with the help and guidance of the Art of Jazz, a non-profit organization whose mandate is to promote the arts – jazz and its many offspring to the public through performance and education. The mainstay of the operation is artistic director Bonnie Lester. Lester has been involved since the inception of Art of Jazz in 2006, with the first presentation at the Distillery District in Toronto. I was at that first celebration and the final one in 2009 at the old Distillery District. Art of Jazz is one of my favorite jazz experiences as it encompasses everything I believe a jazz festival should possess. I was pleased to see Art of Jazz make a resurgence in 2011 in co-operation with the city of Brampton and even though I could not attend I heard great things about it. I made up for it this year. I trekked out to the city, about an hour drive for me and I was entertained from Friday evening until Sunday afternoon.
What I like most about the Art of Jazz concept is the idea of a celebration of the arts and its accessibility to everyone. The interaction between the audience and the artists, through participation in workshops and seminars as well as the overall quality of the artists, from jazz legends to current superstars, young emerging talent, be it local or international and students of the arts. The Brampton Jazz and Blues festival has embraced this and invites you in with open arms and serenades your soul with pleasing sounds.
A musical celebration!
The celebration for me began on Friday with Mother Nature’s act of a torrential rainfall pounding out a frightening rhythm as I drove to the Rose Garden Square, an outdoor venue featuring one of the first acts of the festival, the Fabrizio Mocata Trio. There was never a thought of turning around as I had tickets for an indoor show as well – in the sheltered Rose Theatre, but a distant three hours later. To my relief the storm had eased up and the sun was breaking through upon my arrival at the outdoor stage.
The featured act, Italian pianist Mocata was preparing to take to the stage, his bandmates were Canadians, bassist Kieran Overs and drummer Ethan Ardelli. The trio played a lively set to a rather thin but attentive audience. Mocata played a Latin tinged style of jazz bop with classical overtones. A very enjoyable set of music with rousing piano and solid bass and drums in support.
The acts would keep coming on the Garden Square stage and I managed to catch a few songs of each group. The Joe Louis Walker band with their dynamic front woman vocalist who reminded me of the great Janis Joplin. This singer, whose name I didn’t manage to catch, like Joplin energized the audience with her powerful delivery. After each group an MC came on stage to keep the audience interested, this allowed for set up of the stage for the following artist. No doubt an important element for a smooth transition between sets but there must be a better way than the use of comics who pull all the punches to try and get a laugh, without much success.
There were other venues offering up entertainment, Ken Whillans Square for one, but it wasn’t the same as the venues of the Distillery District with their close proximity to one another. Not being familiar with BramptonI had no idea where Ken Whillans Square was. My program gave directions but no map. My time was spent at the Garden Square (free events) just outside the Rose Theatre, the Rose Lobby (free) where the late night jams were held and the Rose Studio. The main stage concerts, ticketed events were held at the Rose Theatre and Friday’s performance was Shemekia Copeland, a Grammy nominated blues vocalist. Prior to her show I caught Shakura S’Aida on the Garden Square stage, a wonderful vocalist with a powerful voice and a high energy stage persona. As she took to the stage at about the same time as Copeland I only listened to a couple of songs before heading into the Rose Theatre.
Copeland is a name I’m only somewhat familiar with, the father of Shemekia is Johnny Copeland, a blues guitarist. The younger Copeland raised on blues, schooled in Gospel and influenced by rock put on a good energetic show. She was aided by a powerful band of three guitarists and a drummer who played with heavy intensity. The finale reached its peak as Copeland ventured to the apron of the stage and sang acoustically to the crowd. A gospel powerhouse with a gorgeous tone and a style that is warm and friendly.
The blues carried on after the main stage show as the Garden Square featured blues harmonica player Charlie Musselwhite and his band. He and the band blew Chicago style blues till well after his appointed hour as the all night jam band waited to go on in the intimate Rose Lobby with leader Kieran Overs. The late night jam was scheduled to start at10:30 but got underway much later as a crowd of hard core jazz enthusiasts waited for it to get started. Overs was joined by guitarist Reg Schwager and drummer Ethan Ardelli. They started while Musselwhite was still howling but it wasn’t a distraction, it was pleasing and great music ensued, both indoors and out.
Saturday, the first show I caught was the Ingrid Jensen Quartet, the clouds overhead were dark and threatening, a stage hand was monitoring wind speed, apparently trying to determine an impending lightning strike. Jensen opened with a rain go away song, a cha-cha groove with offbeat piano prodding while Jensen blew sweet notes in a continuous flow of delightful sounds. Her style is fluid, her tone deep and passionate; she runs her fingers all over the horn, hitting the highs, the lows and everything in between including the occasional squeal and growl. Jensen’s rain go away song did little to deter the sky from opening up and weeping a gentle tear on the square full of listeners. A very surreal image as the rain came down through an intense glow of sunshine while Jensen and the quartet played a trippy tune “Centre Song” to what appeared to be an audience of umbrellas. The quartet played on through it all, striking tunes, with titles like “661”, “Now and Zhen” and “Angelica”.
Other acts that I caught glimpses of included Autorickshaw, led by singer Suba Sankaran, her quintet combines south Indian music with classical and modern to create a pleasing medley of sonic delight. The crooner Sachal Vasandani and his quartet as well as Funkadesi, a percussion heavy funk band all of who took to the Rose Garden Square stage at various times throughout the evening. The Mainstage ticketed events featured Vijay Iyer Trio and Branford Marsalis Quartet.
If music is ever considered competitive, you may look at Vijay Iyer Trio leveling the playing field by invitation to Rudresh Mahanthappa, an altoist with a long time association to Vijay Iyer projects as just such a move. Mahanthappa and his quartet Samdhi played in the early afternoon on the Garden Square stage. The Iyer Trio was now on the same footing as the Marsalis Quartet. To the benefit of the audience Iyer took to the stage and played blistering piano, the trio in complete sympatico. “Optimism”, “The Star of The Story”, the third song in, a Herbie Nichols composition and the fourth song “Little Pocket Sized Demons” -by this time Mahanthappa had made his entrance and “Human Nature”, “Mystery Man” and “Good on the Ground” were performed, the later tune took on an Indian flavour, exciting and dynamic with an excellent sax solo, piano chords that were choppy and fragmented. This was a complex song, so much so that I think the audience was lost along the way as Iyer had to prompt for applause upon ending the song. An exciting concert with amazing musicianship from bassist Stephan Crump, drummer Marcus Gilmore, pianist Iyer and saxophonist Mahanthappa. The winner of this throw down can only be the audience when the musicianship and the performance is of such a high level. A brief intermission and The Branford Marsalis Quartet took to the stage, exciting to say the least. And for more details check out my report on the subject.
The last day of the festival featured the Art of Jazz Orchestra with Branford Marsalis. The concert was held under the tent of the Rose Garden Square stage. Another sunny day with threatening clouds that broke open briefly near the end of the performance. Some of the players of note, who traded off with Marsalis included pianist Robi Botos, drummer Darnell Lewis and best of all trumpeter Ingrid Jensen who blew some wicked solos.
The highlights for me and there were many, included the performances of the amazing young drummers, Ethan Ardelli, Marcus Gilmore, Darnell Lewis and Justin Faulkner. I have been following the careers of Ardelli, Gilmore and Lewis for the past few years, Faulkner the newest on the scene was a refreshing delight to witness in action.
Well done Art of Jazz. Bravo Brampton Global Jazz and Blues Festival – keep getting better, keep going forward with presentations that bring together the highest quality of jazz from around the world. Here’s looking to a stellar 2013.
Art of Jazz Orchestra with Branford Marsalis – Photographs by Robert Saxe
For Claudia Acuña, home has never been a fixed destination. It is something carried—in the body, in memory, in language, and in sound.
On Ave de Luz, the Chilean vocalist brings those fragments together with unusual clarity. After three decades in New York, Acuña no longer treats her roots as something to weave quietly into jazz. She places them at the center. Her striking declaration—“I’m coming in with my crown, my poncho, my everything”—captures the album’s spirit perfectly.
Raised in Concepción during Chile’s dictatorship years and later transformed by New York’s jazz scene, Acuña has spent much of her career moving between worlds. Ave de Luz feels like the moment when those worlds stop competing with one another.
A Specifically Chilean Jazz
Acuña has resisted the idea that “Latin jazz” can be reduced to a single vocabulary. Afro-Cuban and Brazilian traditions may dominate the popular understanding of the term, but Latin America contains countless rhythmic, folkloric and indigenous languages.
Her own metaphor is simple: noodles and spaghetti may look related, but they are not the same thing.
That idea shapes Ave de Luz. The album is not merely jazz with Chilean colour added to it. It is music whose identity emerges from cueca, Andean traditions, indigenous sonorities, poetry, migration and improvisation.
The trutruka, charango, zampoña, tormento and Chilean pandero become part of the album’s grammar. They interact with Manu Koch’s piano and keyboards, Carlos Henderson’s bass and Yayo Serka’s drums and percussion without sounding ornamental or exoticized.
Poetry, Memory and Resistance
“Chinga La Ka Chinga” captures one of the album’s most expansive ideas. Festive on the surface, the piece also acknowledges Afro-Chilean and northern Chilean currents, suggesting how celebration can carry history, resistance and cultural memory within its pulse.
Elsewhere, the music turns inward. “Piececitos de Niño,” inspired by Gabriela Mistral, brings poetry and childhood into the album’s emotional landscape, while “Rezo” feels almost elemental: voice, charango, atmosphere and silence shaping a meditation on nature, distance and belonging.
Acuña’s reading of Violeta Parra’s “La Jardinera” is equally significant. Its imagery of planting, tending and healing becomes an apt metaphor for tradition itself. Culture survives not by remaining untouched, but by being replanted. Acuña does precisely that.
The Wind From the South
“Viento del Sur” also carries special resonance, recalling the title of Acuña’s 2000 debut, Wind from the South. Then, the image suggested a Chilean artist arriving in the international jazz world. Here, the meaning has changed.
The south is no longer where she came from. It is something she continues to carry.
That idea finds its fullest expression in the title track. The “bird of light” becomes an image of migration without erasure—a figure moving forward while remaining connected to its place of origin. The metaphor fits Acuña herself.
Her longtime musical relationship with Koch, Henderson and Serka gives Ave de Luz much of its freedom. Years of trust let the ensemble move naturally between folk memory, jazz improvisation and contemporary textures without forcing boundaries between them.
Ave de Luz may be Claudia Acuña’s most complete artistic statement because it no longer asks her identities to compromise.
The crown is experience.
The poncho is memory.
Jazz is the road between them.
And Claudia Acuña travels that road carrying Chile fully into the light.
Album Information
- Artist: Claudia Acuña
- Album: Ave de Luz: Chilean Jazz & Soul
- Label: Delfin Records
- Release date: July 10, 2026
- Genre: Jazz / Vocal Jazz / Chilean jazz
- Format: Digital/streaming
- Final digital release: 7 tracks, approximately 36 minutes
Tracklist
- Chinga La Ka Chinga – (Claudia Acuña, Coch, Hernandez & Serka) – 4:43
- Ave de Luz– (Mario Rojas) – 5:48
- Viento del Sur– (Claudia Acuña & Jason Lindner) – 6:01
- Rezo– (Claudia Acuña) – 3:49
- Piececitos de Niño– (Based on a poem of Gabriela Mistral / Music by Claudia Acuña) – 6:10
- Un Gorro de Lana– (Víctor Acosta) – 4:18
- La Jardinera– (Violeta Parra) – 6:01
Personnel
- Claudia Acuña – vocals, percussion/claps, tormento; producer
- Manu Koch – piano and keyboards (tracks 1, 2, 3, 5)
- Carlos Henderson – bass
- Yayo Serka – drums and percussion
- Pablo Vergara – piano (tracks 6, 8)
- Andrés Pollak – piano, organ; producer (track 7) | organ (track 1)
- Pablo Zárate – accordion, Chilean pandero (track 2)
- Fredy Torralba – traditional Chilean/Andean instruments including charango, trutruka and zampoña
- Paulina García – spoken word (track 6)
- Daniel Kelley-Acuña – vocals (track 6)
Production Credits
Produced by Claudia Acuña and Andrés Pollak. Most of the sessions were recorded at East Side Sound in New York in November 2025, with “Ave de Luz” recorded at TOC Música in Santiago in October 2025 and additional recording completed at Banduria Studio in Santiago. Andrés Pollak handled engineering on the principal New York sessions; Rafael Chaparro engineered the Santiago title-track session with Javier Lizana assisting. Marc Urselli mixed and mastered the project.
With La Malinche, Eva Cortés delivers one of the most ambitious recordings of her career—a project in which history, identity, migration and music converge around one of the most contested figures in the Americas.
Malintzin, also known as Doña Marina or La Malinche, has long been portrayed through conflicting narratives: interpreter, intermediary, mother of mestizaje, victim, survivor and, in later nationalist mythology, traitor. Cortés does not try to settle that debate. Instead, she uses Malintzin as a symbol of cultural transition, displacement and survival.
That choice makes particular sense for an artist whose own life has unfolded across borders. Born in Honduras (Central America), shaped culturally in Seville (Spain) and later immersed in New York’s jazz community, Cortés has always made music from the space between traditions. On La Malinche, that in-between space becomes the heart of the album.
A Music of Crossings
The album brings together flamenco, Latin jazz, contemporary jazz and Indigenous-inspired imagery without turning the result into a forced fusion.
Rather than attempting to recreate pre-Columbian Mexican music literally, Cortés evokes Indigenous memory through percussion, communal voices, repetition and themes of ancestry, earth and maize. Flamenco enters through Spanish guitar, vocal inflection and the expressive grit associated with cante. Jazz supplies the harmonic freedom and improvisational space that allow those elements to interact.
The musicians surrounding Cortés are crucial to that balance. Pianists Pepe Rivero, Jon Cowherd and Zaccai Curtis, bassists Christian McBride, Luques Curtis and Reinier Elizarde “Negrón,” and drummers Antonio Sánchez, Adam Cruz and Georvis Pico give the album both rhythmic strength and harmonic flexibility. Roman Filiú, Paco Heredia, Marvin Sewell, Bandolero and others expand the palette further. The result is music that never feels boxed into one category.
The Voice at the Center
Cortés’ singing remains the album’s most powerful instrument. Her phrasing can be loose and conversational, then suddenly sharpen into something more urgent and flamenco-inflected. She moves between reflection, mourning, protest and defiance without sacrificing musical control.
Most importantly, she refuses to define Malintzin through betrayal. Her interpretation focuses instead on endurance and complexity.
The opening “Abuelita Malinche” immediately makes that clear. By calling her “Abuelita,” Cortés transforms Malinche from a figure of accusation into an ancestral presence. The arrangement blends Latin-jazz movement with flamenco coloration, while her wordless vocal passages move naturally between scat and cante.
“Hij@s del Maíz” extends that idea of cultural mixture. Paco Heredia’s guitar, Pepe Rivero’s piano, Antonio Sánchez’s drums and the accordion create a sound that travels across regions rather than belonging to one. Maize becomes a symbol of Indigenous continuity, while the music reflects the constantly changing character of mestizaje itself.
From History to the Present
The album becomes even more powerful when it connects the past to contemporary realities.
“Letters to Heaven” and “Remember Me” introduce themes of Indigenous loss and the disappearance of women from both historical memory and present-day communities. “Sur Global” shifts toward resistance, combining rhythmic drive with a broader reflection on colonialism, migration and inequality.
Then “Spanish Harlem” brings the journey firmly into the present. Horns, flute, tumbao and call-and-response place Cortés within New York’s Latin-jazz tradition, completing a musical path that stretches from ancestral memory to the modern city.
A Major Statement
La Malinche is more than an album built around a historical figure. It is a meditation on who controls history, who gets remembered and how identity continues to change across generations and borders.
Cortés turns her own musical hybridity into the album’s central idea. Jazz, flamenco and Latin American traditions do not simply coexist here—they help tell the story.
The result is one of her strongest and most focused recordings to date: emotionally direct, musically sophisticated and deeply rooted in the ongoing conversation between memory and transformation. La Malinche is not about recovering a pure past. It is about reclaiming the right to reinterpret it.
Album Information
- Artist: Eva Cortés
- Album: La Malinche
- Label: Truth Revolution Records / TRRcollective
- Release: June 2026
- Official press release date: June 5, 2026
- TRRcollective Bandcamp release date: June 19, 2026
- Format: CD / Digital
- Number of tracks: 11
- Total running time: 51:53
- Genre: Jazz / Latin Jazz / Flamenco / Afro-Latin
- Recorded in: Madrid, Spain, and Little Falls, New Jersey, USA
Tracklist
- Abuelita Malinche — 4:35
- A Tribo do Vento — 5:46
- Soy el Aire — 5:31
- Light and Sorrow — 3:59
- Hij@s del Maíz — 4:24
- Letters to Heaven — 5:04
- Remember Me — 3:28
- Sur Global — 5:43
- No Me Limites — 4:33
- Indians of All Tribes — 3:53
- Spanish Harlem — 4:57
Personnel
- Eva Cortés — vocals, composer, lyricist, backing vocals
- Pepe Rivero — piano, keyboards, arrangements
- Jon Cowherd — piano
- Zaccai Curtis — piano, keyboards
- Christian McBride — bass
- Luques Curtis — bass
- Reinier Elizarde “Negrón” — bass
- Paco Heredia — Spanish guitar, guitar, arrangements
- Marvin Sewell — guitar
- Roman Filiú — saxophone, flute, backing vocals
- Bobby Martínez — saxophone
- Manuel Machado — trumpet
- Antonio Serrano — harmonica
- Javier Colina — accordion
- Bandolero — percussion
- Roland Guerrero — percussion
- Antonio Sánchez — drums
- Adam Cruz — drums
- Georvis Pico — drums, vocal solo, backing vocals
Production Credits
- Produced by: Eva Cortés, Roman Filiú and Pepe Rivero
- Label: Truth Revolution Records / TRRcollective
- Session One: Camaleón Music Studio, Madrid, Spain
- Recording Engineer, Madrid: Diego Román
- Session Two: Studio Mozart, Little Falls, New Jersey, USA
- Recording Engineer, New Jersey: Kostadin Kamcev
- Mixing: David Darlington
- Mastering: David Darlington
- Mixing and Mastering Studio: Bass Hit Studios, New York, NY
- Photography: Noah Shaye
The title Abriendo Puertas—“Opening Doors”—captures the spirit of guitarist Roni Ben-Hur’s latest recording with unusual precision. Recorded in Havana with an accomplished group of Cuban musicians, the album is built not around the novelty of a visiting jazz guitarist encountering Cuban music, but around something more meaningful: musicians listening closely enough to find a common language.
Ben-Hur has spent much of his career moving naturally between musical worlds. Born in Israel to a Tunisian family and shaped professionally by New York’s jazz community, his playing draws from bebop, Brazilian music, Mediterranean traditions and Latin rhythms without sounding like a collection of influences. His years with pianist and mentor Barry Harris helped establish the melodic clarity, swing and understated sophistication that remain central to his guitar style. On Abriendo Puertas, those qualities fit remarkably well within a Cuban setting.
The key creative partner is pianist Alejandro Falcón, who contributes four of the seven compositions: the title track, “Gua’ One Blues Pal Bobby,” “Lo que es del César” and “El Teide.” Rather than treating Ben-Hur as a soloist placed in front of a Cuban rhythm section, Falcón helps create an ensemble language in which guitar and piano continuously exchange roles. Their compatibility is evident from the opening title track, where rhythmic momentum and lyrical improvisation develop patiently rather than through display.
“Gua’ One Blues Pal Bobby” pushes the conversation toward the blues while retaining a strong Cuban rhythmic identity. It is one of the album’s most spirited performances, illustrating how readily the vocabulary of jazz can coexist with the rhythmic imagination surrounding Ben-Hur in Havana. By the time the ensemble reaches “Lo que es del César” and “El Teide,” the distinction between guest and host has largely disappeared. What remains is a cohesive band responding to one another in real time.
The album’s romantic center comes through three classic Latin American songs. José Antonio Méndez’s “Mi Mejor Canción” brings the intimacy of the Cuban filin tradition into the program, while Osdalgia Lesmes appears on Isolina Carrillo’s “Dos Gardenias” and Armando Manzanero’s “Esta tarde vi llover.”
Lesmes brings warmth and emotional directness to both performances, and Ben-Hur proves once again what a sensitive accompanist he can be. His guitar surrounds the voice rather than competing with it, reflecting an approach he has developed through years of working with singers, including the late Brazilian vocalist Leny Andrade. Ben-Hur has spoken of the importance of leaving space for vocalists and allowing melody and lyric to remain at the center of an arrangement.
That same sense of space benefits the entire recording. Pedro Pablo Gutiérrez on acoustic bass, Ruy López-Nussa on drums and Octavio Rodríguez Rivera on percussion provide a foundation that is rhythmically rich without becoming overcrowded. Tenor saxophonist Emir Santa Cruz, featured on four tracks, adds another expressive voice and gives several performances a broader jazz-ensemble character.
Recorded at DBega Studios in Havana in November 2025, Abriendo Puertas is part of the Cuban Notes recording series co-produced by Ben-Hur and Dot Time Records founder Johanan “Jo” Bickhardt. Yet the album succeeds beyond the concept behind the series.
Its strength is ultimately found in the musicians themselves. Nobody appears interested in proving how effortlessly jazz and Cuban music can be combined. They simply play together until those distinctions become secondary.
For listeners who appreciate expressive jazz guitar, Cuban music and recordings where collaboration matters more than spectacle, Abriendo Puertas is easy to recommend. Warm, sophisticated and deeply conversational, it finds Roni Ben-Hur opening another musical door—and discovering an ensemble waiting on the other side.
Album Information
Artist: Roni Ben-Hur
Album: Abriendo Puertas
Label: Dot Time Records
Catalog: DT9192
Genre: Jazz / Latin Jazz
Release Date: June 26, 2026
Recorded: November 2025
Studio: DBega Studios, Havana, Cuba
Format: CD / Digital
Program: 7 tracks, approximately 49 minutes.
The project is part of Cuban Notes, co-produced by Johanan “Jo” Bickhardt and Roni Ben-Hur. It follows Alejandro Falcón’s Falcón in Blue as the second album in the series.
Tracklist
1. Abriendo Puertas – Alejandro Falcón – 8:12
2. Mi Mejor Canción – José Antonio Méndez – 6:32
3. Dos Gardenias – Isolina Carrillo – 5:23
4. Gua’ One Blues Pal Bobby – Alejandro Falcón – 9:23
5. Esta tarde vi llover – Armando Manzanero – 5:56
6. Lo que es del César – Alejandro Falcón – 6:17
7. El Teide – Alejandro Falcón – 7:49
Personnel Credits
Roni Ben-Hur — guitar
Alejandro Falcón — piano
Pedro Pablo Gutiérrez — acoustic bass
Ruy López-Nussa — drums
Octavio Rodríguez Rivera — percussion
Emir Santa Cruz — tenor saxophone, tracks 1, 4, 5 and 7
Osdalgia Lesmes — vocals, tracks 3 and 5
Production Credits
Executive Producer: Johanan “Jo” Bickhardt
Co-Producer: Roni Ben-Hur
Recorded at: DBega Studios, Havana
Recording date: November 2025
Sound Engineer: Carlos D’Bega
Label: Dot Time Records
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