On the evenings of Friday, June 16 and Saturday, June 17, Cuban pianist, composer and bandleader Elio Villafranca hosted what he qualified as “an incredible performance...
For the past two Tuesdays, I have been stopping by at Minton’s on 118th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue, in the heart of Harlem for the...
Park Palace Tribute Featuring the Aruán Ortíz Quartet and Manuel Valera & The Cuban Express – May 4th to May 10th, 2014 – Constructed in 1890...
Manuel Valera: The wunderkind of the New Musical Express on music and life Although it may not have happened that way, pianist Manuel Valera seems to...
Manuel Valera and New Cuban Express seem to have picked up from where they left off. Their album Expectativas has the same vigor and the same...
“On Derramando Luz Gema explores aspects of cuban music fused with the harmonics of jazz and convey both the present and the past of cuban music...
This album, New Cuban Express is Cuban-American pianist, Manuel Valera’s attempt to redefine his relationship with Cuban music including the classic Cuban son and bolero as...
The work of a troubadour is never over. He traverses the world covering the geography of the liveliest hotspots on the earth as well as the...
“Happily, there are two new charts on this double CD. The first is “Gotcha”, a delightful song that mixes the New Orleans dirge with an ecstatic...
Diego Urcola’s is a voice that remained somewhat hidden—certainly tucked away—for two decades in Paquito D’Rivera’s quintet. And then there was the subdued role he played...
The insane revelry of the guaguancó kicks off De La Habana a Nueva York, and produces a blue flame of energy from an all, but forgotten...
Un eterno romance entre lo cubano y el jazz demuestra que la cosa va en serio El jueves 11 de marzo, se presentó por segunda vez...
"On October 18, 2009 renowned drummer, Ernesto Simpson brought an all-star band to my home on to perform a composition of his and Manuel Valera's. With...
The title of this record – Bach in Havana – should not come as a surprise, after all there is a yet-to-be-fully-discovered European Baroque and Classical...