We tend to affiliate people, places, and things with the areas that have historical connections to them. We will forever link George W. Bush to Texas and Sammy Davis, Jr. with Las Vegas culture. The Golden Gate Bridge represents San Francisco while the Eiffel Tower brings Paris to mind. Everyone knows that the White House sits in Washington D.C. while Parliament resides in England. The film industry remains centered around the wacky world of Hollywood while top stage actors play Broadway in New York City. There’s a long list of location-based associations that fly off the top of our heads easily.

We’ve grouped Latin Jazz by location, looking back on history to isolate the best-known “hotspots.” New York City gets top honors; most people consider New York to be the music’s birthplace as well as the current cutting-edge scene. Cuba sometimes gets overlooked in the States – the political embargo limits our knowledge of the current music scene. At the same time, many people understand the rhythmic relationship with Cuban music and will often bring up the name. Los Angeles, and sometimes San Francisco, gets mentioned as the West Coast headquarters for Latin Jazz. People believe these scenes hold a “slicker” sound and sometimes operate behind the curve in comparison to New York. More people point out Miami these days, due to the large Cuban population and a growing number of Latin Jazz products. These locations usually remain the focus of conversations about Latin Jazz, despite the fact that they cover a small piece of the world.

So the question remains; what about all the other areas that we don’t commonly associate with Latin Jazz? Like perhaps . . . Ann Arbor, Michigan?

Ann Arbor may not be the first place we consider when focusing on Latin Jazz, but our current Spotlight Artist, Los Gatos consistently performs high quality Latin Jazz here. The universal appeal and addictive nature of Latin Jazz has inspired artists to study the music and their passionate search transfers to enthusiastic audiences. Los Gatos followed this path and created a local scene in Ann Arbor – a respectable task indeed. These videos show the group live at an outdoor festival in Detroit – enjoy!

Mi Guaguanco

This Masquerade

Come Candela

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