Our current Spotlight Artist Tanaóra reaffirms the strength of the Bay Area Latin Jazz scene on their current release Día Real with a set of intelligent, artistic, and accessible original pieces. There’s a professional and creative aura around the album that makes it shine with every stylistic change and original interpretation. The strong presence shouldn’t be a surprise - Tanaóra’s members include some of the Bay Area’s finest musicians that have contributed to the overall scene for many years. Led by pianist Bob Karty, vocalist Cecilia Engelhart, and percussionist Michael Spiro, the group bubbles with experience - between these three members, you’ve got connections to Orquesta Batachanga, the Machete Ensemble, Orquesta La Moderna Tradición, and more. Add bassist David Belove, drummer Paul van Wageningen, saxophonist Ron Stallings, and trombonist Jeff Cressman, and you’re making connections to gigs with Pete Escovedo, Carlos Santana, Mark Levine, Jovino Santos Neto, and more. It’s an incredible band with a heavy past that provides them with the potential to take their unique musical approach strongly into the future.

So many of the group’s members have made significant contributions to the Bay Area Latin Jazz scene, you can find plenty of information online about them both individually and as a group. The Tanaóra website offers background info on the musicians, streaming samples from Día Real, song lyrics, a calendar, and more. You can get a little closer with the group on their MySpace page. You can check out pianist Bob Karty’s website HERE, providing insight on Tanaóra, but also his work with Bay Area groups such as Edgardo & Candela, Avance, and Orquesta La Moderna Tradición. Percussionist Michael Spiro has made a name for himself both as a versatile percussionist and an in-demand educator - you can get all the details on his background, recordings, books, and teaching HERE. We did a write-up on the late influential saxophonist Ron Stallings, who spent the last years of his life performing with Tanaóra; check it out HERE. Trombonist Jeff Cressman shares a web presence with his wife Sandy and her group Homenagem Brasileira that you can check out HERE. There’s a wealth of talent in the group, and digging a little deeper will introduce you to a world of great music.

The work that these musicians have done as Tanaóra follows a high standard of excellence that they’ve displayed throughout their career. I’ve included individual information about each band member in the hopes that you can check out some of their previous work. Once you do that, jump on over to LJC’s review of Día Real and if that’s not enough, check out singer Alexa Weber Morales’ take on the album HERE. Take a chance with this group and follow the links to pick up the CD, you’ll like what you hear! Enjoy!

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Cecilia Engelhart (voice) has recorded and performed with artists as diverse as Gerardo Batiz, Andy Bey, Ruben Blades, Theo Bleckmann, Mino Cinelu, Jay Clayton, Willie Colon, Santi Debriano, Paquito D’ Rivera, Bruce Dunlap, Rinde Eckert, Kip Hanrahan, Tania Libertad, Carman Moore, Oscar Castro Neves, Danilo Perez and Tamba Trio. She joined the Meredith Monk Ensemble as soloist and ensemble singer during a retrospective of Monk’s work at Lincoln Center for The Performing Arts in 2001 and at Mills College in 2003. She is also a regular featured soloist with the San Francisco early music group “Coro Hispano.” Cecilia is also a composer, arranger and lyricist.

Bob Karty (piano) has worked with most of the top bands on the Bay Area salsa/Afro-Cuban scene. He is an original member of Orquesta La Moderna Tradición, with whom he has recorded three critically-acclaimed CDs. On their most recent release, ‘En Canto,’ he also served as recording and mix engineer and co-producer. He also performs regularly with the salsa bands Candela and Conjunto Karabalí. His recording with the salsa band Avance (led by Santana percussionist Karl Perazzo) was nominated for a California Music Award. He has also appeared with the Pete Escovedo Orchestra, Ray Obiedo and many others. He is on the faculty of The Jazzschool in Berkeley, CA and teaches at his studio in Oakland.

Michael Spiro (percussion) is an internationally recognized percussionist, recording artist and educator, known specifically for his work in the Latin music field. Spiro’s recording and performing credits include such diverse artists as David Byrne, Dori Caymmi, Changuito, Richard Egues, Frank Emilio Flynn, Ella Fitzgerald, David Garibaldi, Gilberto Gil, Giovanni Hidalgo, Ray Holman, Toninho Horta, Bobby Hutcherson, Dr. John, Mark Levine, Machete Ensemble, Bobby McFerrin, Andy Narell, Ray Obiedo, Chico O’Farrill, Eddie Palmieri, Lazaro Ros, David Rudder, Carlos Santana, Grace Slick, Omar Sosa, Clark Terry, McCoy Tyner and Charlie Watts. In 2004 he received a Grammy nomination and a California Music Awards nomination for his work as both producer and artist on Mark Levine’s Latin-Jazz release, “Isla.”

Jeff Cressman (trombone) is a San Francisco native who has performed with a wide variety of artists, including Tito Puente, Poncho Sanchez, Pete Escovedo, Peter Afelbaum, Jai Uttal and many others. Jeff has been recording and touring the world as a member of the Carlos Santana band since 2000 and also works with the Bay Area salsa band Edgardo & Candela.

David Belove (bass) is a Kansas City native who relocated to San Francisco in 1973 and soon became the Bay Area’s most prominent Latin and Brazilian bassist. He has recorded, performed or toured with Pete and Sheila Escovedo, Tito Puente, John Santos and the Machete Ensemble, Rebeca Mauleón, Rolando Morales, Homenagem Brasiliera, Wayne Wallace, The Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir and many more. David has also worked with Jazz artists including Joe Henderson, Blue Mitchell, Eddie Harris, Max Roach, Dizzy Gillespie, Larry Coryell, Louis Bellson, Mark Murphy and Pat Metheny. David teaches at the JazzSchool in Berkeley, CA, at Jazz Camp West and in 2004 he became an adjunct faculty member at Mills College. In addition, he teaches at his studio in Oakland where he also works on photography and graphics projects.

Paul van Wageningen (drums, Latin percussion) was born in Amsterdam, where he attended the Amsterdam Conservatory. He moved to New York in 1976 to be closer to the American Jazz scene. Since his relocation to the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 70s, he has gained recognition as one of the premier drummers in the area of multicultural drumming, receiving three Grammy nominations. Paul has performed both in the United States and abroad with many of the top global-beat jazz groups such as Pete Escovedo, Andy Narell, Gonzalo Rubalcaba’s trio, Paquito D’Rivera and the Caribbean Jazz Project, Jovino Santos Neto, Claudia Villela and Ricardo Peixoto, Nestor Torres and Dori Caymmi.

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Check Out These Related Posts:
5 Albums That Remember Bay Area Latin Jazz Saxophonist Ron Stallings (1947 - 2009)
Spotlight: Viajando Choro e Jazz, Grupo Falso Baiano
Spotlight: Sonando Vuelos, Anna Estrada
Album of the Week: Azucar De Amor, Kat Parra

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