Latin Jazz Photo Album: John Calloway & Diaspora
Last weekend, the San Jose Jazz Festival left a huge impression upon my musical perspective and I left the festival with a wealth of new thoughts and inspirations. The festival drew over 100,000 people, making the event a major success, especially considering the state of the current economy. It drew a massive crowd of jazz fans, but the audience held more than your basic array of jazz addicts. The $15 price tag made the festival accessible to a broad variety of audience members, inviting casual listeners, dancers, young couples, teenagers, families and more into the music. The San Jose Jazz Festival pushed the music in the right direction by moving beyond the usual suspects, and it exposed these new listeners to some fantastic music. There was ample talent from across the country, but the festival also spotlighted a good number of musicians from the Bay Area. These musicians are generally spread across various gigs in the area, and seeing them all in one place makes a strong impression. One thing rang through my head as I walked away from the San Jose Jazz Festival last weekend – thousands of people just discovered that the Bay Area has an incredible Latin Jazz scene.
The highlight of my Saturday was a performance by one of the cornerstones of Bay Area Latin Jazz, John Calloway and his group Diaspora. A long time fixture on the Bay Area Latin Jazz scene, Calloway deserves a lot of credit for the depth and quality behind the active Latin Jazz circuit. While growing up in San Francisco, he discovered Latin music and soon dedicated himself to the genre. During his development, Calloway studied with some of the best Latin musicians in New York and later traveled multiple times to Cuba. He brought this knowledge back to the Bay Area and became a vital member of numerous influential groups including Orquesta Batachanga and The Machete Ensemble. He became a valuable multi-instrumentalist, an important arranger, and a highly respected composer with a distinctive approach to Latin Jazz. In addition, he worked tirelessly as an educator in San Francisco and beyond, providing music instruction for young people of all ages in the classroom, special programs, and beyond. He founded the Latin Jazz ensemble at San Francisco State University and became the director of the San Francisco Latin Jazz Youth Ensemble. Calloway released his first CD as a bandleader, Diaspora
There’s a reason for the demand though – Calloway delivers some amazing music – which is exactly what he did at the San Jose Jazz Festival. His group at the San Jose Festival included pianist Murray Low, bassist David Belove, drummer David Flores, and percussionist Jesus Diaz, some of the best musicians on the Bay Area scene. It was an inspiring performance, so today’s Latin Jazz Photo Album features pictures from Calloway’s performance with Diaspora at the San Jose Jazz Festival. Enjoy!
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John Calloway
David Belove
Murray Low
Jesus Diaz
David Flores
Mike Olmos
John Calloway
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Looking for more from John Calloway? Check out some of his albums:
Diaspora
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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:
Latin Jazz Photo Album: Charlie Sepulveda
Latin Jazz Photo Album: Bobby Sanabria & The Manhattan School Of Music Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra
Latin Jazz Photo Album: Corina Bartra & Her Azu Project
Latin Jazz Photo Album: Hector Martignon
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