El Gran Fellové: Part 3- When my Parents…
When my parents bought their home in 1968, Sunset Beach was just another sleepy little beach town
It spanned about one mile in length, sandwiched...
El Gran Fellové: Part 2- Enter Chocolate & Celio González
Early Sunday morning…
I awoke to the pleasant surprise of a Google Alert in my email. I clicked to find Variety Magazine had published an...
El Gran Fellové: Part 1- The Beginning
Francisco Fellové Valdés (October 7, 1923 – February 15, 2013), also known as El Gran Fellové (The Great Fellove), was a Cuban songwriter and...
Talking Sensorial with Mafalda Minnozzi
Earlier this year – in July to be precise – I critiqued an amazing recording by Mafalda Minnozzi. The album was entitled Sensorial, a...
Tony Succar: Percussionist with a Big Bang Theory
Tony Succar could have been a professional sportsman – a football player to be precise. Two things kept the Peruvian-American from making his...
Bobby Paunetto, New York City and The Synthesis of Music
Bobby Paunetto was an unforgettable composer, arranger, musician and recording artist. Latin Jazz Network honors him on the tenth anniversary of his death (8.10.10).
His...
Mart’nália: The Art of Love and Beauty in Music
Mart’nália’s eyes are like large, limpid pools. They draw you into their world. Once you’re in, the quietude of this portal opens out into...
Premiere: “Descargarará” by The John Santos Sextet
The John Santos Sextet: The Art of The Descarga
Descargarará 6:48
Marco Díaz, piano, trumpet; Saúl Sierra, acoustic bass; Dr. John Calloway, flute; Melecio Magdaluyo,...
Jazz Plaza 2020: Ancient to the Future
Chapter four of our series: 35th Jazz Plaza International Festival in Havana
In recent months I found myself in profound reflection of the term...
Ray Martinez and the Forgotten Legacy of Jazz
Sometime in the very near future, several of the jazz world's best known writers and musicologists will meet in some obscure conclave to pool...
Orquesta Faílde: Faílde con Tumbao
Eight years have passed since Ethiel Faílde (he's the great-great-nephew of the musical creator of the danzón Miguel Faílde) and a group of talented...
A Brief History of the Cuban Style Conjunto
1930: The Orquesta Típica is out and the Conjunto is in
The year 1930 marked a turning point in the development of popular Cuban music....
Jazz Plaza 2020: Speaking in Tongues
Chapter three of our series: 35th Jazz Plaza International Festival in Havana
In 1972, former University of Toronto professor of Anthropology and Linguistics Michael J....
“Si Va’Llover” and the Advent of Música Artesanal
Henry Cole & Villa Locura release a new song featuring Alex López ‘El Callejero’ – “Si Va’Llover” – and a new form of making...
Dafnis Prieto: Rhythmic Synchronicity
A review of the book by Dafnis Prieto, entitled Rhythmic Synchronicity – Individual and Collective Drumming Skills: A rhythmic course for non-drummers
Anyone who has...
Jazz Plaza 2020: The Celebration of Otherness
Chapter two of our series: 35th Jazz Plaza International Festival in Havana
The legendary French philosopher noted for his work in phenomenology Paul Ricœur, wrote...
RIP Andy González (January 1, 1951 – April 9, 2020)
* Andy González (January 1, 1951, The Bronx, New York – April 9, 2020) was a New York City-based double bass player. González was...
Ethiel Faílde: Keeper of the Flame of Danzón
Did Miguel Faílde (1852-1921) create or even “consciously stumble” upon (both better epithet than “invented”) the now-iconic danzón dance form that Cuba gave the...
Jazz Plaza 2020: Embracing the Culture of Jazz
Chapter one of our series: 35th Jazz Plaza International Festival in Havana
Culture - the customs, arts, social institutions, and achievements of a particular nation,...
RIP Ray Mantilla (June 22, 1934 – March 21, 2020)
Inspired by his South Bronx Afro-Cuban roots, percussionist Ray Mantilla rose to prominence in the early '70s, performing with a host of prestigious bands,...