While American audiences have heard him recently — his voice soaring in the Academy Award-winning soundtrack of Black Panther by Swedish composer Ludwig Göransson — this will be Maal’s first performance in New York City in 8 years. For the event, he will be accompanied by the Town Hall Ensemble directed by trumpeter, composer, arranger, …
Baaba Maal with The Town Hall Ensemble (The Town Hall) Read More »
Juan Manuel Fernández Montoya, Farruquito, has been on stage since he was a child. Born into one of the great dynasties of flamenco, he was 5 years old when from the wings he watched his father, his mother, an aunt, and his legendary grandfather, the great dancer “El Farruco,” perform in Flamenco Puro, (1986) a …
ORLANDO “MARACA” VALLE, Flute EDMAR CASTAÑEDA, Harp EDWARD SIMON, Piano LUQUES CURTIS, Bass DANIEL FREEDMAN, Drums, Percussion “Jazz is dead” is one of the evergreens in jazz literature. Yet for all the challenges, real and perceived facing jazz in the cultural marketplace, the real story for the past few decades has been the triumph of …
Pictured, clockwise: Chucho Valdés (bottom left) Egberto Gismonti, Danilo Pérez, Gonzalo Rubalcaba A few months ago, pianist Danilo Pérez explained that his composition “Bridge of Life” was about the theory of how the isthmus where his native Panama sits emerged millions of years ago, separating the oceans, yet also becoming a link between continents. “The …
Egberto Gismonti, Danilo Pérez, Gonzalo Rubalcaba & Chucho Valdés (Carnegie Hall) Read More »
PAQUITO D’RIVERA, Alto Saxophone, Clarinet, Conductor Diego Urcola, Trumpet, Valve Trombone Alex Brown, Piano Oscar Stagnaro, Electric Bass Mark Walker, Drums Pernell Saturnino, Percussion With Quinteto Cimarrón Eduardo Coma Vega, First Violin Lazaro Gonzalez Peña, Second Violin Raymond Arteaga Morales, Viola Luis Caballero Varona, Cello Oscar Rodriguez Calvo, Bass Paquito D’Rivera has been tweaking …
Paquito D’Rivera: Around The Americas (Jazz at Lincoln Center) Read More »
The impact of Cuba in American arts and culture goes so far back in history, and has been so pervasive and profound, that it’s easy to overlook it. Think of Cuba’s influence on popular music. You can hear it in the lilting habanera in the opening bars of “St. Louis Blues” and the inescapable Bo …
¡Adelante, Cuba! Festival (New York City Center) Read More »
Flamenco guitarist Pepe Habichuela, 73, is the rarest kind of master. Yes, he’s an invaluable link to the history and deepest traditions in the music, but he´s also a seemingly fearless experimenter and a champion of the younger musicians following on his steps. He is celebrating his 60 years of flamenco guitar with a concert …
Familia Habichuela: Legendary Dynasties (The Town Hall) Read More »
Singers Ana Moura, from Portugal, and Buika, from Spain, are two of the most distinctive voices in world pop. Each has taken an indigenous, popular genre—fado in the case of Moura, copla for Buika—mastered it, imprinted it with her own style, and used it as a point of departure for other explorations. Their searches have …
Old Sounds, New Voices: Ana Moura and Buika (Carnegie Hall) Read More »
Carmen Linares (pictured), Marina Heredia, and Arcángel With Miguel Ángel Cortés, Guitar José Quevedo “Bolita,” Guitar Paquito González, Percussion Ana Morales, Dancer Isidro Muñoz, Music Director Like the blues (its counterpart in the United States) flamenco was born out of need, as an expression of a desperately poor underclass struggling for survival in a place not …
The geographic distance between New Orleans and Havana can be measured in miles. Musically, talk of distances can be deceiving. Cuban pianist and composer Jesus “Chucho” Valdés (pictured) likes to illustrate the point with an elegant sleight of hand; he begins by playing Scott Joplin’s classic “The Entertainer” as a ragtime, and then subtly, imperceptibly …
Chucho Valdés, Pedrito Martínez & Wynton Marsalis (Jazz at Lincoln Center) Read More »