On April 1, 2008, Bobby Sanabria and the Manhattan School of Music Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra revisited the music of the unbeatable Latin Jazz classic, Kenya, originally recorded by Machito and His Afro-Cubans in 1957. Sanabria opened the concert with the proclamation, “This is not nostalgia. This is the music of yesterday, today, and tomorrow . . . here. ” A bold statement, but the concert proved Sanabria right on every level. The music found on Kenya represents a high point in the history of Latin Jazz - in 1955, it was forward-thinking and powerful, and today it resonates with the same strength. A simple presentation of the original charts would have been an outstanding feat for this band, but Sanabria took his students one step further. With the help of some talented contemporary arrangers - Joe Fiedler, Danny Rivera, Andrew Neesley, and Michael Phillip Mossman - the group re-envisioned the songs through modern ears. While they retained all of the excitement, intelligence, and creative drive of the original recording, the thicker arrangements, the harmonic embellishments, and the additional sections firmly set in the performance in 2008, not 1957. It was a high artistic achievement, and when listening back to the recording, it’s easy to forget that that the performers are young college students. These are extremely talented college students, and they represent the future of our music - hearing their skills make me feel comfortable about that statement. I also feel good about the fact that our next generation of Latin Jazz artists is journeying into the world with a strong knowledge of Kenya and a whole-hearted respect for some of the Latin Jazz world’s greatest music.

The Kenya concert must have been an incredible event for those people lucky enough to attend; the rest of us will just have to imagine it. Fortunately, Jazzheads did us all a favor by recording the concert and releasing it as a CD - the more records that we maintain of important Latin Jazz events like this, the better sense of history we keep. It’s also a simply inspiring listen, easily one of the best releases of 2009 thus far. We’ve also got some wonderful pictures of the band in action that capture the enthusiasm and power of the evening. The images below offer a great opportunity to get to know some of the young musicians that will be creating the music of tomorrow and see some of the important artists helping these musicians. Thanks to Bobby Sanabria for providing these fantastic shots of the young musicians involved in the concert and the living legend Candido Camero. Enjoy!

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Manhattan School Of Music Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra At The Kenya Concert

Pianist Christian Sylvester Sands

Legendary Conguero Candido Camero

Saxophonist Justin Janer

Bobby Sanabria and Candido Camero At The Kenya Concert

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Do you have pictures to contribute to the Latin Jazz photo album? I’d love to have everyone in the Latin Jazz community contribute! I’ll be posting five to ten pictures a week - I’m looking for live performance shots, not promo pics. I’d like to keep them centered around one artist per week, but if you’ve got another idea, let’s talk. So come on Latin Jazz photographers, musicians, and fans - let’s put some more memorable pictures in the Latin Jazz Photo Album! Get my contact info HERE

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Check Out These Related Posts:
Album of the Week: Kenya Revisited, Live!!!, Bobby Sanabria Conducting The Manhattan School of Music Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra
Revisiting Latin Jazz Classics: Tanga, Mario Bauza and His Afro-Cuban Orchestra
Album of the Week: Big Band Urban Folktales, Bobby Sanabria
Latin Jazz Standards: 10 Versions Of Tin Tin Deo

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