Performing jazz can and should be similar to walking a high wire without a net – a thrilling ride that sends chills of excitement down the backs of musicians and listeners alike. It’s not just the act of improvisation that sends a group of jazz musicians on a breathtaking adventure; it’s the way in which they approach their act of spontaneous creation. A skilled jazz musician can piece together a solo by calling upon age old licks and phrases – a process that certainly demands a good deal of knowledge and ability, but in reality doesn’t require much risk taking. Constantly venturing into the unknown sheds a whole new light upon improvisation. When a musician surrounds their personal statements with this type of risk, then the real magic happens – we hear unexpected things from the musician and they run that very real risk of falling. This type of exposure and daring musicianship is rare, so when it happens, the magic should be greatly appreciated.
Trumpet player and conguero Jerry Gonzalez has spent his whole career taking these types of risks, and as a result, he has contributed some extremely exciting music to the Latin Jazz world. Growing up deeply immersed in jazz and Latin music, Gonzalez and his brother Andy became core figures on the New York scene, playing with Dizzy Gillespie, Eddie Palmieri, and the most important figures in the burgeoning salsa scene. The brothers held legendary jam sessions in their house, and their preference for experimentation led to the formation of Grupo Folklorico Y Experimental Nuevayorquino. This band brought together their interests in the creative re-envisioning of folk music from the Caribbean and South America, but it didn’t play to a wide audience. Along with legendary timbalero Manny Oquendo, the brothers put together Libre, one of the heaviest hitting salsa bands in the history of the music. While all these groups utilized elements of jazz, Gonzalez still longed for a pure outlet for his connection to hard bop and beyond. The opportunity for a jazz focus came with a couple of European festival gigs and an album release that led to the formation of The Fort Apace Band. Originally conceived as a large ensemble, the group was soon paired down to a sextet, allowing for more spontaneous interaction. The group’s telepathic ability to jump between Latin grooves, swing, and fiery flights of improvisation earned them a formidable reputation on the jazz circuit. Unforgettable albums like Rumba Para Monk, Earthdance, and Moliendo Cafe further cemented their legacy. After decades playing with The Fort Apache Band, Gonzalez changed direction and moved to Spain, where he actively explored a number of new musical directions. While he was slow to link himself with a permanent group, he did explore the connections between jazz, Caribbean rhythms, and Flamenco music in an amazing recording, Jerry Gonzalez Y Los Piratas Del Flamenco. In time, he connected with a group of Cuban musicians who had also made Spain their home – pianist Javier Masso “Caramelo,” bassist Alaín Perez, and drummer Kiki Ferrer. He deemed the new group El Comando de la Clave and released a phenomenal recording that shows new sides of the established trumpet player constantly being prodded into exposure.
Gonzalez has found a group of like-minded musicians to fill his new band, carrying on his tradition of an impassioned, take no prisoners approach to Latin Jazz. El Comando de la Clave take the charge with an enthusiastic vigor, shooting a burst of energy into every vein of the Latin Jazz realm. In celebration of the group’s new album, today’s Weekly Latin Jazz Video Fix is dedicated to Gonzalez and El Comando de la Clave. The first video finds Gonzalez and his group providing a unique take upon the first piece of John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme, “Resolution.”. The next two videos are a bit blurrier than the first, but they show El Comando de la Clave tearing through an explosively interactive performance. When Gonzalez leads his group on a rampage over the tightrope, there’s sure to be fireworks, as evidenced on these videos and their new album – enjoy!
———- Jerry Gonzalez Y Los Comandos De La Clave Performing “Resolution”
Jerry Gonzalez Y Los Comandos De La Clave Performing “Obsesion”
Jerry Gonzalez Y Los Comandos De La Clave Performing At Clamores Jazz
Jerry Gonzalez Y Los Comandos De La Clave Performing At Clamores Jazz
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Do you have a video to contribute to satisfy our weekly Latin Jazz video fix? If so, send it in – it’s time to feed our addiction. I’m looking for live performances, from any context. I’ll most likely be posting one video per week, but if you’ve got another idea, let’s talk. So come on Latin Jazz videographers, musicians, and fans – let’s share some of our memorable videos! Get my contact info HERE.
Latin Jazz This Week will bring you a weekly look into news from the Latin Jazz world. You’ll find new releases, recommended performances, web finds, and more. You can check out some current sounds in the Listening Center tab at the top of the page. Performance dates will be kept in the Live Latin Jazz tab at the top of the page.
NEWS
Those of you that have followed LJC for a while know the routine here, but I’ve got to apologize for the past few weeks of scattered posts. Teaching high school music pays my bills and the start of the academic year has been upon me. Suffice to say that this is an extremely busy time of year for me and the majority of my attention needs to be upon my teaching job. Things are starting to fall into routine and there’s more space in my head for writing, so things will pick back up over the next couple of weeks. It’s nice to have my attention back on the thing that keeps me going everyday – this beautiful music that we call Latin Jazz.
If you’re in SOUTH AMERICA this week . . . GREG DIAMOND WHEN: Tuesday 9/1/11 WHERE:Universidad De Los Andes
Avenida Jimenez
Bogotá D.C., Bogotá, Colombia TIME: 8:00 p.m.
WHEN: Tuesday 9/2/11 WHERE:Bogotá Jazz Festival
Bogotá, Colombia TIME: 11:00 a.m. TICKETS: FREE
If you’re in EUROPE this week . . . CHUCHO VALDES & HIS AFRO-CUBAN MESSENGERS WHEN: Saturday 9/3/11 WHERE:Celia Stage – World Trade Center Piscadera Bay
Piscadera Road z/n
Willemstad, Curacao
Netherlands, Antilles TIME: 7:15 p.m. TICKETS: $185
If you’re on the EAST COAST this week . . . ADRIANO SANTOS WHEN: Wednesday 8/31/11 WHERE:NuBlu
62 Avenue C
New York, NY TIME: 10:00 p.m.
AFRONAUGHTICA WHEN: Wednesday 8/31/11 WHERE:Willie’s Steak House
1832 Westchester Avenue
Bronx, NY TIME: 8:00 p.m. TICKETS: NO COVER
ALFREDO RODRIGUEZ WHEN: Thursday 9/1/11 – Sunday 9/4/11 WHERE:Blue Note – New York
131 W. 3rd Street
New York, NY TIME: 8:00 p.m. & 10:30 p.m. TICKETS: Bar: $20; Table: $35
ARTURO O’FARRILL
Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra WHEN: Sunday 9/4/11 WHERE:Birdland – New York
315 West 44th Street
New York, NY TIME: 9:00 p.m. & 11:00 p.m. TICKETS: $30
CIDINHO TEIXIERA WHEN: Sunday 9/4/11 WHERE:Zinc Bar
82 West 3rd Street
New York, NY TIME: 8:00 p.m., 10:00 p.m., & 11:30 p.m. TICKETS: $10 with 2 Drink Minimum
EDMAR CASTANEDA
Tanglewood Jazz Festival WHEN: Sunday 9/4/11 WHERE:Seiji Ozawa Hall
297 West Street
Tanglewood Music Center
Lenox, MA TIME: 2:00 p.m. TICKETS: $19 – $56
ERIC KURIMSKI WHEN: Thursday 9/1/11 WHERE:Terraza Cafe
40-19 Gleane Street
Elmhurst, NY TIME: 9:00 p.m. TICKETS: FREE
FRANK VILLAFAÑE WHEN: Friday 9/2/11 – Saturday 9/3/11 WHERE: Cubacan
800 Ocean Avenue
Asbury Park, NJ TIME: 8:30 p.m. TICKETS: NO COVER
GABRIEL ALEGRIA AFRO-PERUVIAN SEXTET WHEN: Friday 9/2/11 – Saturday 9/3/11 WHERE:Tutuma Social Club
164 East 56th Street
New York, NY TIME: 8:30 p.m. & 10:30 p.m. TICKETS: NO COVER
GABRIELLE TRANCHINA WHEN: Wednesday 8/31/11 WHERE:Lalisse Bar
161 Lexington Avenue
New York, NY TIME: 8:00 p.m. TICKETS: NO COVER
WHEN: Thursday 9/1/11 WHERE:Momento Restaurant
374 Morsetown Road
West Milford, NJ TIME: 7:00 p.m. TICKETS: NO COVER
GREGORIO URIBE BIG BAND WHEN: Thursday 9/1/11 WHERE:Zinc Bar
82 West 3rd Street
New York, NY TIME: 9:30 p.m., 11:00 p.m., & 1:00 a.m. TICKETS: $10 with 2 Drink Minimum
HECTOR DEL CURTO WHEN: Sunday 9/4/11 WHERE:Palais De Glace
3410 Weeks Hill Road
Stowe, VT TIME: 6:00 p.m. TICKETS: $20
JOHN BENITEZ
Latin Jazz Jam Session WHEN: Sunday 9/4/11 WHERE:Terraza Cafe
40-19 Gleane Street
Elmhurst, NY TIME: 9:00 p.m. TICKETS: FREE
JOHN SANTOS SEXTET
Tanglewood Jazz Festival WHEN: Saturday 9/3/11 WHERE:Seiji Ozawa Hall
297 West Street
Tanglewood Music Center
Lenox, MA TIME: 8:00 p.m. TICKETS: $19 – $77
JORGE CONTINENTINO WHEN: Tuesday 8/30/11 WHERE:Zinc Bar
82 West 3rd Street
New York, NY TIME: 9:00 p.m., 10:30 p.m., & 12:00 a.m. TICKETS: $10 with 2 Drink Minimum
MAMBO LEGENDS ORCHESTRA WHEN: Friday 9/2/11 WHERE: The Hilton New York
1335 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY TIME: 11:00 p.m. TICKETS: $35 in advance; $40 at the door
VANDERLEI PEREIRA & BLINDFOLD TEST WHEN: Saturday 9/3/11 WHERE:Fat Cat
75 Christopher Street
New York, NY TIME: 7:00 p.m. TICKETS: $3
If you’re in the MID-EAST this week . . . ARTURO SANDOVAL
Labor Day Jazz Festival WHEN: Sunday 9/4/11 WHERE:Grand Hotel
286 Grand Avenue
Mackinac Island, MI TIME: Afternoon Performances TICKETS: Price bundled into hotel stay packages
BRIAN ANDRES & THE AFRO-CUBAN CARTEL WHEN: Thursday 9/1/11 WHERE:Fountain Square
Fifth Street & Vine Street
Cincinnati, OH TIME: 7:00 p.m. TICKETS: FREE
WHEN: Friday 9/2/11 – Saturday 9/3/11 WHERE:Blue Wisp Jazz Club
318 E 8th Street
Cincinnati, OH TIME: 8:30 p.m. TICKETS: $10
DAVID SANCHEZ
Chicago Jazz Festival WHEN: Sunday 9/4/11 WHERE:Petrillo Music Shell
235 South Columbus Drive
Chicago, IL TIME: 7:10 p.m. TICKETS: FREE
EL MOVIMIENTO WHEN: Sunday 9/4/11 WHERE:Jazz Cafe
The Downtown Square
Franklin, TN TIME: 5:00 p.m., 6:50 p.m., & 8:00 p.m. TICKETS: $8 in advance; $10 at the gate
IVAN LINS
Detroit International Jazz Festival WHEN: Sunday 9/4/11 WHERE: Main Stage
Cadillac Square
Detroit, IL TIME: 9:30 p.m. TICKETS: FREE
LOS GATOS WHEN: Wednesday 8/31/11 WHERE: Vinology
110 South Main Street
Ann Arbor, MI TIME: 8:00 p.m. TICKETS: $10
Detroit International Jazz Festival WHEN: Sunday 9/4/11 WHERE: Main Stage
Cadillac Square
Detroit, IL TIME: 6:00 p.m. TICKETS: FREE
LUCIANA SOUZA
Detroit International Jazz Festival WHEN: Saturday 9/3/11 WHERE: Pyramid Stage
Atwater Drive
Detroit, IL TIME: 1:45 p.m. TICKETS: FREE
PAQUITO D’RIVERA
Detroit International Jazz Festival WHEN: Sunday 9/4/11 WHERE: Waterfront Stage
River Walk Avenue
Detroit, IL TIME: 7:30 p.m. TICKETS: FREE
Detroit International Jazz Festival
Guest Artist With The Jazz Orchestra of Northern Illinois University WHEN: Monday 9/5/11 WHERE: Carhartt Amphitheatre
Hart Plaza
Detroit, IL TIME: 3:15 p.m. TICKETS: FREE
PAULINHO GARCIA WHEN: Wednesday 8/31/11 WHERE:Piccolo Mondo
1642 E. 56th Street
Chicago, IL TIME: 6:00 p.m.
SAMMY FIGUEROA & HIS LATIN JAZZ EXPLOSION WHEN: Wednesday 8/31/11 WHERE: Old Town School Of Folk Music
909 W Armitage
Chicago, IL TIME: 8:30 p.m. TICKETS: $5
WHEN: Friday 9/2/11 WHERE: Jazz Kitchen
5377 N College Avenue
Indianapolis, IN TIME: 8:00 p.m. & 10:00 p.m. TICKETS: $15
Detroit International Jazz Festival WHEN: Sunday 9/4/11 WHERE: Main Stage
Cadillac Square
Detroit, IL TIME: 7:30 p.m. TICKETS: FREE
VINICIUS CANUARIA
Detroit International Jazz Festival WHEN: Sunday 9/4/11 WHERE: Pyramid Stage
Atwater Drive
Detroit, IL TIME: 6:30 p.m. TICKETS: FREE
If you’re on the WEST COAST this week . . . BILL CABALLERO WHEN: Thursday 9/1/11 WHERE:Voz Alta
1754 National Avenue
Barrio Logan, CA TIME: 7:00 p.m. TICKETS: FREE
FRANK CANO WHEN: Saturday 9/3/11 WHERE: Steamer’s
138 W. Commonwealth Avenue
Fullerton, CA TIME: 8:30 p.m. TICKETS: $8
GILBERT CASTELLANOS WHEN: Wednesday 8/31/11 WHERE:El Camino
2400 India Street
San Diego, CA TIME: 9:00 p.m. TICKETS: NO COVER
IVAN LINS WHEN: Thursday 9/1/11 – Saturday 9/3/11 WHERE: Yoshi’s – San Francisco
1330 Fillmore Street
San Francisco, CA TIME: 8:00 p.m. TICKETS: $26
JOVINO SANTOS NETO WHEN: Saturday 9/3/11 WHERE:JazzScapes
The Arroyos
Seattle, WA TIME: 4:00 p.m. TICKETS: $20
MONGORAMA WHEN: Friday 9/2/11 WHERE:Brea Jazz Festival Concert Series
Birch Street & Brea Boulevard
Brea, CA TIME: 7:00 p.m. TICKETS: FREE
PACIFIC MAMBO ORCHESTRA WHEN: Monday 8/29/11 WHERE:Cafe Cocomo
650 Indiana Street
San Francisco, CA TIME: 9:30 p.m. TICKETS: $10
PETE ESCOVEDO WHEN: Tuesday 8/30/11 WHERE:Hollywood & Highland
6801 Hollywood Boulevard
Hollywood, CA TIME: 7:00 p.m. TICKETS: FREE
PONCHO SANCHEZ WHEN: Sunday 9/4/11 WHERE: Spaghettini’s
3005 Old Ranch Parkway
Seal Beach, CA TIME: 7:00 p.m. TICKETS: General: $25; Reserved Seating: $45
SCOTT MARTIN WHEN: Tuesday 8/30/11 WHERE:Vibrato’s Jazz Grill
2930 North Beverly Glen Circle
Los Angeles, CA TIME: 6:30 p.m. TICKETS: FREE
WAINAPEL, OLIVEIRA, DIMOS & GUELLO WHEN: Monday 8/29/11 WHERE:Yoshi’s Oakland
510 Embarcadero West
Jack London Square
Oakland, CA TIME: 8:00 p.m. TICKETS: $14
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After indulging her passion for Brazilian music in Salvador da Bahia, percussionist Ami Molinelli reached an important crossroads in her life. Heading back to the United States, Molinelli needed to decide just how deeply her involvement in music would be a part of her life. Molinelli followed her passion at this point, deciding that music would become a full time career and the focus of her life. She moved to Southern California and attended CalArts, focusing her studies in the world music program. While she was there, Molinelli came into contact with a wide variety of music, such as West African and Afro-Cuban drumming, but it soon became clear that Brazilian music held her heart. On a summer trip back to the Bay Area, Molinelli met saxophone player Zach Pitt-Smith. The two musicians discovered a shared interest in Brazilian music, and they soon found themselves playing together. Pitt-Smith introduced Molinelli to 7-string guitarist Brian Moran, who also shared his deep bond to Brazil. Despite a growing musical network in the Bay Area, Molinelli got two steady teaching positions in Los Angeles, inspiring her to make that her main base. Molinelli realized that her work with Pitt-Smith and Moran held strong potential though, so as she moved forward in her career, Molinelli regularly traveled up to the Bay Area for performances.
As Molinelli traveled down her chosen path, her focus upon Brazilian music became clear, defining her future work. Together with Pitt-Smith and Moran, as well as mandolin player Jesse Appelman, Molinelli would form Grupo Falso Baiano, a leading force in Bay Area Brazilian music. In Part One of our interview with Molinelli, we discussed her evolution as a percussionist, her musical experiences at U.C. Berkeley, and her initial trip to Brazil. Today, we look into Molinelli’s move back to the States, her studies at CalArts, and her encounter with her future bandmates.
———- LATIN JAZZ CORNER: What brought you back to the States and eventually to CalArts?
AMI MOLINELLI: I was in Brazil and I was at a crossroads – I was either going to let my visa expire and be illegal or come back. I didn’t want to come back, so it was a real painful decision to leave Brazil. I did leave though, and once I came back, I figured that if I was going to do music, then I should do it for real. So I took some supplementary music courses at Laney College in Oakland and was playing as well as teaching around the area. Then I applied for an MSA at the California Institute of the Arts and I got in. I went to CalArts and that really was another great stepping stone for me. I was able to study with some good people while I was there. There were a few really talented Brazilian musicians while I was there too. Of course I did other stuff besides Brazilian music while I was there, but that’s really where I got into choro because of another musician that was there at the time.
LJC: Was that a teacher or fellow student?
AM: It was a fellow student. There were two people actually. There was this great guitar player who became a friend of mine; he introduced me to choro. Then there was a teacher there who was actually in the world percussion program – this guy’s name was Randy Gloss, a great percussionist and a great pandiero player. He brought this percussionist named Gello to the school, who played with some great musicians in Sao Paulo. Gello came for about a month. At the time, he needed a translator and a driver in order to do all these workshops that were set up for him – I got to be that person. He was so grateful and humble that he ended up just giving me tons of lessons. That was a good experience. I was really lucky to be able to study with both of them.
LJC: You studied dance while you were at CalArts too – how did that effect you?
AM: I used to dance samba with troops in san Francisco in the carnival parade. Then at Cal Arts, I did West African dance. With Ghanaian culture, there’s no separation between the drumming and the dance. I think that in Ewe, the word is the same for dance and music. I ended up dancing a lot with them because not as many people wanted to dance as could drum. Since I had that background, they wanted me to dance. My first year, it was a struggle because they kept making me dance and I wanted to drum! It was great though – I did a lot of dance there. You’re able to do that at CalArts, it’s a neat place.
LJC: What other styles of music were you getting into at the time?
AM: I started to be into Afro-Cuban music. At CalArts, they have a Latin Jazz component and a salsa band; I did a lot of that. I was also studying some frame drumming. If nothing else, when you look at the world not needing another conga player and me looking at what I could offer the instrument . . . I ended up falling in love with the Pandiero and Brazilian music a bit more. That ended up being my route – it’s definitely what I do more than anything else.
LJC: After CalArts, was that when you came back up to the Bay Area?
AM: After my first year at CalArts, I went to this camp – it’s a place that now I’ve taught at, but at the time I was a student – it was called Jazz Camp West. I met Jovino (Santos Neto) there. I met a guy that had a Brazilian ensemble, and while I was playing in that group, I met Zach (Pitt-Smith). We started playing together, and even while I was at CalArts, I would come up for some gigs. Zach introduced me to Brian (Moran). After CalArts, I spent almost a year back up in the Bay Area and then I actually got a job down in L.A. teaching both for the L.A. Philharmonic and the L.A. Music Center. Since then, I have been in L.A. primarily. I would come up for gigs and trying to keep the band going, but I’ve been moving between L.A. and San Francisco until this last summer.
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Make sure that you read Part One of our interview with percussionist Ami Molinelli where we discuss her early development as a percussionist, her diverse exposure to music at U.C. Berkeley, and her initial trip to Brazil. You can check it out HERE.
Come back next week for Part Three of our interview with percussionist Ami Molinelli where we’ll get into the creation of Grupo Falso Baiano, their early days of performing, and the recording of their first album. Don’t miss it!
A change of plan often breathes excitement into life and offers the possibility of digging deep into new paths of inspiration. Leaving yourself open to new ideas may present some initial discomfort, but almost always leads to new learning and self-discovery. Sometimes it’s simply better to ditch the plan completely and follow your passion – you never know where it might lead and the journey might be better than the destination. When this journey sends an individual towards music, the entire world benefits from their travels, as they leave behind a sonic record of their trip.
Percussionist Ami Molinelli found her life plan taken over by music, a path that eventually led to an impressive expertise in Brazilian music. Raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Molinelli had limited exposure to music as a child, keeping her focus on other things. When she entered U.C. Berkeley for her college studies, she didn’t arrive with the intention of playing music, but the art form quickly grabbed her. The lively community of musicians from around the world on the U.C. Berkeley campus led Molinelli to experiences with West African drumming, Trinidadian steel pan, and more. As she moved towards the end of her time at U.C. Berkeley, Molinelli found herself deeply immersed in percussion. Upon her graduation, Molinelli entered a job in her chosen field, but the call of music was too strong. Following a year in her job, Molinelli took a trip to Brazil in order to learn Portuguese that was intended to last two months. She once again found herself drifting towards percussion though, and at the end of her two months, she kept finding ways to extend her trip. By the time that she eventually returned to the United States, Molinelli was well versed in Brazilian music and ready to dedicate her life to it.
Molinelli’s change of plans led her towards music and allowed her to build an impressive connection with Brazilian style. Her skills as a percussionist and Brazilian music specialist would only grow, eventually inspiring her to join a group of like-minded musicians in the outstanding Grupo Falso Baiano. In Part One of our interview with Molinelli, we discuss her journey towards percussion, her diverse experiences at U.C. Berkeley, and her immersion in Brazil.
———- LATIN JAZZ CORNER: Where did you grow up and how did you initially get interested in music?
AMI MOLINELLI: I grew up in an area of the Bay Area called the Peninsula. I played classical piano as a kid, but never really thought about doing anything with music. It was a total accident. I got interested in percussion when I went to school for my undergrad work at U.C. Berkeley. I did some steel drumming there, African drumming, and I met some friends that did Afro-Cuban music.
LJC: Was Brazilian music around you at all?
AM: There was no Brazilian music there at the time – this was in the nineties. There was just West African. Interestingly enough, the West African drumming was as far away from the music building as possible and the administrative staff in the music building still complained. They had the African drummers over by where they did marching band and stuff. So I had very little contact with the music building. U.C. Berkeley has a really renown Ethnomusicology program, but it was a funny thing.
After that, I ended up going to Brazil later and spent a year down there. That kind of got me into the Brazilian world.
LJC: What inspired you to make that jump from music as a hobby to music as a profession?
AM: My undergrad degree is in conservation and resource studies. So I worked as an intern in an environmental non-profit for a year after I graduated. Doing a nine to five job was great – I loved it – but I really missed music. I knew that my internship was going to end, and I’d started studying drum set on the side. I thought it would be a good opportunity to do some traveling. I actually had a friend who had been to Bahia in Brazil. So I kind of went for it and I went down there. I meant to go for two months, and I ended up staying for eight or nine months.
LJC: Were you studying music in Brazil or just hanging out? How did you get in touch with the culture down there?
AM: I went down to study Portuguese, so I did an intensive program. That anchored me a little bit. I ended up trading English lessons for drum lessons with a musical director of a women’s drum group. He didn’t really want to learn English – his wife had studied English and wanted him to learn. Every time that we had the trade, he set it for their rehearsal time. I think that he was trying to simply appease her. He completely thought that I no rhythm at all, so he had me playing a cowbell to see if I could just keep time. I kept going and I went from the cowbell to the triangle to the shaker through all of the auxiliary percussion. Then I ended up playing with them. I got to perform and do carnival with them as well as do this pilgrimage to a church where they celebrate the Catholic mass and they welcome the Candomblé. I got to do all these things with these girls from Salvador. It was a great experience.
I was also taking dance classes at the University and studying whatever else that I could get into. I was also teaching English. I just ended up teaching and getting a bunch of students that worked for Bechtel in the Oil Industry down there who were corporate workers. So I was kind of making it go for a while. LJC: Do you come into contact with any of the great during your time down there?
AM: I have in subsequent trips. During that time, I met people from Olodum and Timbalada and different groups that are known more in Bahia. In subsequent trips, I’ve had the opportunity to met and hang out with people like Hamilton de Holanda. There’s a great percussionist named Gello who is a great inspiration for me and whose style, if there’s one that I aspire to, it would be him. Brian (Moran) and I both went to the choro festival that’s run by the University Of Rio and the Institute Of Jacob Do Bandolim where we met some great choro musicians. There’s this seven string guitar player named Alessandro Penezzi that we actually did a concert with last year in California. There were a lot of different folks. I’ve been able to meet Jorginho do Pandeiro, who was the original pandiero player with Conjunto Época de Ouro. Just being able to see and meet some of these people was amazing. You can throw a rock and if you’re looking for it, you can find some of these great people. People are much more open there.
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Come back later this week for Part Two of our interview with percussionist Ami Molinelli where we’ll dig into her move back to the United States, the creation of Grupo Falso Baiano, and more. Don’t miss it!
Most musicians encounter a variety of genres and styles throughout their careers, but very few of them apply those influences towards a genuinely unique output. Either by choice or necessity, many musicians will find themselves playing various musical styles, but they only get as close as they are required. Usually, a musician has a mainstay style that commands most of their attention, and any connection to another style simply puts food on the table. On a rare occasion, a musician finds themselves joyfully immersed in a variety of artistic directions, and they happily soak it all into their playing. This type of energy is addictive, and these artists generally find themselves in high demand. More importantly, they begin delivering new and exciting musical statements that emanate from their vast exposure. When these musicians move into the position of bandleader, it’s a guarantee that they’ll have something interesting to say.
Percussionist Sammy Figueroa has followed his passion through many stylistic turns in his career, making him into a strong bandleader with depth and vision. Born in New York, Figueroa spent his childhood moving between the city and Puerto Rico, gaining a full connection to both cultures. His father, Charlie Figueroa was a popular singer, and although Charlie spent a good deal of time performing away from home, Sammy still spent ample time around his musical connections. He began performing around the island as a percussionist in his teens, gaining valuable experience and technical skills. He later moved to New York, and while he was working in a record store, regular customer Herbie Mann encouraged Figueroa to start playing again. Within a matter of time, Figueroa was touring with Mann to the Montreux Jazz Festival, he became a member of the Average White Band, and worked his way into the high profile New York studio scene. Figueroa balanced his time between live performances with some of the era’s best bands such as The Brecker Brothers and studio work with the top pop and rock acts of the day. He continued to find regular work among the New York music scene through the eighties, becoming a well known, liked, and respected figure in studios and beyond. In the nineties, Figueroa took his first trip to Cuba and experienced a major musical revelation as he sat in with Irakere, Lazaro Ros, and more. He joined together with producer Rachel Faro and the team began capturing Cuban artists on record. As a result, several important albums from Cuban groups such as Vocal Sampling, Afro-Cuba, and Mezcla were recorded and distributed, making the world aware of some amazing music. By the turn of the century, Figueroa had relocated and found himself in Miami, where he began working his way into the local music scene. As his presence on the local scene grew, he established his own group, Sammy Figueroa And The Latin Jazz Explosion. Drawing upon some of the best musicians in the area, Figueroa recorded And Sammy Walked In . . ., garnering national respect and a Grammy nomination. He followed the album with another stunning collection of high energy Latin Jazz, a recording entitled The Magician, which once again earned a Grammy nomination. While still working high profile sideman gigs – most visibly with saxophone legend Sonny Rollins – Figueroa has solidified the musical basis of his work and delivered a mature artistic product with his latest release, Urban Nature. Displaying the wisdom of experience and knowledge of a master musician, Figueroa has emerged as an important voice in modern Latin Jazz.
Figueroa spent years working as a musical chameleon, adding his smart touch to every project that he encountered while expanding his vision at every turn. As a bandleader, Figueroa has demonstrated this amazingly insightful ability on all his recordings, delivering a high quality product that draws upon tradition while sparkling with a unique flavor. In anticipation of his outstanding third release, Urban Nature, today’s Weekly Latin Jazz Video Fix is dedicated to Figueroa. The first two videos find Figueroa leading The Latin Jazz Explosion through pieces from his first two albums live in Miami. The third clip displays another side of Figueroa, this time with his second band, Sally’s Tomato: A Tribute To Cal Tjader. The last selection is priceless – a duet between Figueroa and phenomenal pianist Michel Camilo on the jazz standard “Blue Bossa.” Take some time with these different sides of Figueroa and check out his beautiful approach to the music, there’s some insightful playing there – enjoy!
———- Sammy Figueroa And His Latin Jazz Explosion Performing At Coconut Groove
Sammy Figueroa And His Latin Jazz Explosion Performing “Healing Man”
Sammy Figueroa And Sally’s Tomato: A Tribute To Cal Tjader Performing “Alonzo”
Sammy Figueroa And Michel Camilo Playing “Blue Bossa”
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Do you have a video to contribute to satisfy our weekly Latin Jazz video fix? If so, send it in – it’s time to feed our addiction. I’m looking for live performances, from any context. I’ll most likely be posting one video per week, but if you’ve got another idea, let’s talk. So come on Latin Jazz videographers, musicians, and fans – let’s share some of our memorable videos! Get my contact info HERE.
Latin Jazz This Week will bring you a weekly look into news from the Latin Jazz world. You’ll find new releases, recommended performances, web finds, and more. You can check out some current sounds in the Listening Center tab at the top of the page. Performance dates will be kept in the Live Latin Jazz tab at the top of the page.
NEWS
The music world continues to real from the impact of the lawsuit against NARAS, brought forward by Bobby Sanabria, Ben Lapidus, Mark Levine, and Eugene Marlow, in reaction to the elimination of the Latin Jazz Grammy, as well as 30 additional categories. There has been quite a bit of coverage about the lawsuit, with more details coming out all the time. You can read an article from AFP HERE, a piece from The Washington Post HERE, and a New York Times feature HERE. Over the past week, NARAS has been a bit quiet about the whole thing; we’ll see what happens . . .
In a high profile statement that rings will clarity and truth, Carlos Santana has declared that the Grammy category cut by NARAS is definitely racially motivated. The multiple Grammy winner said, “I’m not afraid if they don’t invite me again . . . I’m not afraid to say that it’s basically racist. Ignorant and racist.” That hits things right on the head; hopefully Santana’s stature in pop culture will make more people sit up and take notice. Check out the full article with all the details HERE.
As always, get the full scoop on the whole NARAS fiasco over at Grammy Watch.
Latin music legend Eddie Palmieri will be releasing his first DVD this Tuesday August 16th, 2011, a concert recording that celebrates his 50th year in the music business with a stunning collection of his best songs. The DVD will go on sale this Tuesday at the Best Buy in Union Square, New York; the first 200 people to buy the DVD get a pass into a signing with Palmieri which will include a question and answer session moderated by Erica Gonzalez, the Executive Editor of El Diario/La Prensa. That night, Palmieri and his orchestra will celebrate the DVD release with a concert at Copacabana in New York, a show that promises to be a scorching night of music in typical Palmieri fashion. If you’re in New York, you’ve got to check this out, it’s an event worth celebrating. Don’t take my word for it though, here’s the master himself talking about the DVD:
If you’re in SOUTH AMERICA this week . . . MANANTE WHEN: Wednesday 8/20/11 WHERE:La Milonga Del Santito Santa Teresa
Calle Santa Teresa 361, Chorrillos, PE
Lima, Peru TIME: 7:00 p.m. TICKETS: $20
If you’re in EUROPE this week . . . EDMAR CASTANEDA WHEN: Saturday 8/20/11 WHERE:Solidarity Of Arts Festival
Gdánsk, Poland TIME: 8:30 p.m.
OMAR SOSA
Solo Piano WHEN: Monday 8/15/11 WHERE:Park den Brandt
Antwerp, Belgium TIME: 3:30 p.m. TICKETS: 35 euros in advance; 42 euros at the door
If you’re in ASIA this week . . . MICHEL CAMILO WHEN: Saturday 8/20/11 WHERE:National Concert Hall
Taipei, Taiwan TIME: 2:30 p.m.
If you’re on the EAST COAST this week . . . ANNETTE A. AGUILAR WHEN: Wednesday 8/17/11 WHERE:Tosca’s
4038 East Tremont Avenue
Bronx, NY TIME: 6:00 P.M.
WHEN: Thursday 8/18/11 WHERE:Apt. 78
4447 Broadway
New York, NY TIME: 7:30 p.m.
ARTURO O’FARRILL
Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra WHEN: Sunday 8/21/11 WHERE:Long’s Park
1441 Harrisburg Pike
Lancaster, PA TIME: 7:30 p.m. TICKETS: FREE
CIDINHO TEIXIERA WHEN: Sunday 8/21/11 WHERE:Zinc Bar
82 West 3rd Street
New York, NY TIME: 8:00 p.m., 10:00 p.m., & 11:30 p.m. TICKETS: $10 with 2 Drink Minimum
EDDIE PALMIERI WHEN: Tuesday 8/16/11 WHERE:Copacabana
268 West 47th Street
New York, NY TIME: 9:00 p.m. & 11:00 p.m. TICKETS: $20
EDY MARTINEZ WHEN: Wednesday 8/17/11 WHERE:Terraza Cafe
40-19 Gleane Street
Elmhurst, NY TIME: 9:00 p.m. TICKETS: FREE
FRANK VILLAFAÑE WHEN: Friday 8/19/11 – Saturday 8/20/11 WHERE: Cubacan
800 Ocean Avenue
Asbury Park, NJ TIME: 8:30 p.m. TICKETS: NO COVER
GABRIEL ALEGRIA AFRO-PERUVIAN SEXTET
Live Recording Session WHEN: Friday 8/19/11 WHERE:Tutuma Social Club
164 East 56th Street
New York, NY TIME: 7:00 p.m., 8:30 p.m. & 10:30 p.m. TICKETS: NO COVER
WHEN: Saturday 8/20/11 WHERE:Tutuma Social Club
164 East 56th Street
New York, NY TIME: 8:30 p.m. & 10:30 p.m. TICKETS: NO COVER
GABRIELLE TRANCHINA WHEN: Friday 8/19/11 WHERE:Thomas P. Morahan Park
Windermere Avenue
Greenwood Lake, NY TIME: 7:30 p.m. TICKETS: FREE
GRUPO LOS SANTOS WHEN: Tuesday 8/16/11 WHERE:Miles’ Cafe
212 E. 52nd Street, 3rd Floor
New York, NY TIME: 8:30 p.m. TICKETS: $10 cover/$10 minimum
GUILLERMO KLEIN WHEN: Wednesday 8/17/11 – Sunday 8/21/11 WHERE:Jazz Standard
116 Est 27th Street
New York, NY TIME: Wednesday – Thursday & Sunday: 7:30 p.m. & 9:30 p.m.; Friday – Saturday: 7:30 p.m., 9:30 p.m., & 11:30 p.m. TICKETS: Wednesday – Thursday & Sunday: $25; Friday – Saturday: $35
HECTOR MARTIGNON WHEN: Thursday 8/18/11 WHERE:Nuyorican Poet’s Cafe
236 East 3rd Street
New York, NY TIME: 9:00 p.m. TICKETS: $7
HELIO ALVES WHEN: Tuesday 8/16/11 WHERE:Zinc Bar
82 West 3rd Street
New York, NY TIME: 8:00 p.m., 10:00 p.m., & 11:30 p.m. TICKETS: $10 with 2 Drink Minimum
HENDRIK MEURKENS WHEN: Sunday 8/21/11 WHERE:Dock’s
633 Third Avenue
New York, NY TIME: 11:30 a.m.
JERRY GONZALEZ & THE FORT APACHE BAND WHEN: Monday 8/15/11 WHERE:Blue Note – New York
131 W. 3rd Street
New York, NY TIME: 8:00 p.m. & 10:30 p.m. TICKETS: Bar: $10; Table: $20
JOHN BENITEZ
Latin Jazz Jam Session WHEN: Sunday 8/21/11 WHERE:Terraza Cafe
40-19 Gleane Street
Elmhurst, NY TIME: 9:00 p.m. TICKETS: FREE
MANUEL VALERA & THE CUBAN EXPRESS WHEN: Tuesday 8/16/11 WHERE:Jazz Standard
116 Est 27th Street
New York, NY TIME: 7:30 p.m. & 9:30 p.m. TICKETS: $20
NELSON RIVEROS WHEN: Wednesday 8/17/11 WHERE:Antibes Bistro
112 Suffolk Street
New York, NY TIME: 7:30 p.m.
VICTOR PRIETO WHEN: Thursday 8/18/11 WHERE:Terraza Cafe
40-19 Gleane Street
Elmhurst, NY TIME: 9:00 p.m. TICKETS: FREE
If you’re in the MID-EAST this week . . . JOE RENDON WHEN: Tuesday 8/16/11 WHERE:Katerina’s
1920 W. Irving Park Road
Chicago, IL TIME: 9:00 p.m. TICKETS: $10
PAULINHO GARCIA WHEN: Saturday 8/20/11 WHERE:Katerina’s
1920 W. Irving Park Road
Chicago, IL TIME: 10:00 p.m. TICKETS: $10
If you’re in the MID-WEST this week . . . PETE ESCOVEDO WHEN: Saturday 8/20/11 WHERE:Oats Park Art Center
151 E. Park Street
Fallon, NV TIME: 7:30 p.m. TICKETS: FREE
If you’re on the WEST COAST this week . . . ANNA ESTRADA WHEN: Wednesday 8/17/11 WHERE:Panama Hotel & Restaurant
4 Bayview Street
San Rafael, CA TIME: 7:00 p.m.
BILL CABALLERO WHEN: Thursday 8/18/11 WHERE:Voz Alta
1754 National Avenue
Barrio Logan, CA TIME: 7:00 p.m. TICKETS: FREE
GILBERT CASTELLANOS WHEN: Wednesday 8/17/11 WHERE:El Camino
2400 India Street
San Diego, CA TIME: 9:00 p.m. TICKETS: NO COVER
GRUPO FALSO BAIANO WHEN: Tuesday 8/16/11 WHERE:Le Colonial
20 Cosmo Place
San Francisco, CA TIME: 7:00 p.m. TICKETS: NO COVER
WHEN: Wednesday 8/17/11 WHERE:Mill Valley City Plaza
38 Miller Avenue
Mill Valley, CA TIME: 6:30 p.m. TICKETS: FREE
KAT PARRA WHEN: Sunday 8/21/11 WHERE:57th Street Gallery
5701 Telegraph Avenue
Berkeley, CA TIME: 7:00 p.m. TICKETS: $15
MONGORAMA WHEN: Saturday 8/20/11 WHERE:Sheraton San Diego
8110 Aero Drive
San Diego, CA TIME: 8:00 p.m. TICKETS: $20 in advance; $35 VIP Tickets
PACIFIC MAMBO ORCHESTRA WHEN: Monday 8/15/11 WHERE:Cafe Cocomo
650 Indiana Street
San Francisco, CA TIME: 9:30 p.m. TICKETS: $10
PONCHO SANCHEZ WHEN: Thursday 8/18/11 WHERE:Blue Jay Village
Hwy. 189
Blue Jay, CA TIME: 6:30 p.m. TICKETS: $20 – $30
WHEN: Sunday 8/21/11 WHERE: Steamer’s
138 W. Commonwealth Avenue
Fullerton, CA TIME: 7:00 p.m. & 9:00 p.m. TICKETS: $15
SCOTT MARTIN WHEN: Thursday 8/18/11 WHERE:L.A. Farmer’s Market
6333 W. Third Street
Los Angeles, CA TIME: 7:00 p.m. TICKETS: FREE
WHEN: Friday 8/19/11 WHERE:Plaza At City Hall
333 Civic Center Drive
Tracy, CA TIME: 7:00 p.m.
SONANDO WHEN: Tuesday 8/16/11 WHERE:Siddha Yoga Center
17529 15th Avenue NE
Shoreline, WA TIME: 7:00 p.m. TICKETS: $12 in advance; $15 at the door
WHEN: Thursday 8/18/11 WHERE:Tula’s
2214 Second Avenue
Seattle, WA TIME: 8:00 p.m. TICKETS: $10
WAYNE WALLACE WHEN: Monday 8/15/11 WHERE:Jazz On Main
Broadway/Main Street
Redwood City CA TIME: 6:00 p.m. TICKETS: FREE
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Radio personality and bandleader José Rizo built upon his years of experience with Latin Jazz to reveal a new perspective on a legendary figure. Growing up in Oxnard, California, Rizo flirted with music but didn’t dive deeply into the art form until he started college at the University of California at Santa Barbara. Discouraged by the representation of Latinos on the radio, Rizo found a spot on local station KIST in a public affairs show and began training his peers to do the same through an organization called Radio Chicano. Inspired by a budding love for jazz and Latin music, Rizo established a music show on UCSB entitled Barrio Salsoul, helped organize local concerts, and made connections with the area’s musicians. Life altered Rizo’s path and he left radio for many years, until he noticed a lack of smart programming around Latin Jazz. He organized an audition with Los Angeles station KLON, and impressed the station with his smart programming; they quickly integrated him into their schedule. Rizo’s show, Jazz On The Latin Side became one of the station’s most popular programs, and after ten years, Rizo organized an event to celebrate the show’s success. The best Latin Jazz artists in Los Angeles jumped into a jam session organized around music composed by Rizo, CuBop Records captured the event, and the live recordings became Jazz On The Latin Side All-Stars Vol. 1 and Vol. 2. As the albums started getting extensive airplay, Rizo started receiving multiple phone calls requesting the band for performances. Rizo organized a working band, whose reputation grew in leaps and bounds. Ten years later, Rizo’s Jazz On The Latin Side All-Stars had two more studio albums to their name, The Last Bullfighter and Tambolero. Despite the success of the band, the realities of a tight economy made a smaller ensemble more practical and Rizo turned towards one of his other interests – Mongo Santamaria’s charanga-jazz band La Sabrosa. Together with high profile Los Angeles musicians saxophonist Justo Almario, flautist Danilo Lozano, percussionist Ramon Banda, pianist Oscar Hernandez, and more, Rizo formed Mongorama. The band combined Santamaria’s classic repertoire with original songs from Rizo and a loose jam session mentality, resulting in a powerful tribute to the legendary percussionist. Their resultant 2011 album signaled a new musical era for Rizo and a fresh look at Santamaria.
The appearance of Mongorama resonated with new opportunities, but most importantly, it offered the chance to look at the past and future with an equal respect. On the one hand, Rizo developed a thoughtful and poignant homage to one of his heroes and one of the most revered figures in Latin music. On the other hand, he gathered a power house band capable of delivering awe inspiring performances and unforgettable albums. In Part One of our interview with Rizo, we delved into his early musical experiences, his bold move into radio in college, and his newfound appreciation for jazz. We focused on the creation of Rizo’s show Jazz On The Latin Side in Part Two of our interview, as well as his role as music director at KKJZ, and the current state of public radio. Part Three of our interview dug into the development of The Jazz On The Latin Side All-Stars and their subsequent albums. Today, we take a look at Rizo’s latest project, Mongorama, their connection to Santamaria’s original group, and their 2011 release.
———- LATIN JAZZ CORNER: When talking about Mongo Santamaria, it’s so easy to jump into the more funk influenced stuff that he did later in his career, but you focused upon the repertoire from his La Sabrosa period. What was it that focused you in upon that one era of Mongo’s career?
JOSÉ RIZO: My close musical brothers – Justo Almario, Danilo Lozano, and Poncho Sanchez – we’ve always loved that stuff. When Poncho and I used to hang out, we would listen to records just for the fun of it, and we would always go back to Live At The Blackhawk from Mongo Santamaria. We’d listen to that, I’d play a little congas, and Poncho would get on the timbales; we’d hang out and just have fun listening to the stuff. So I fell in love with that period; it was close to all of us.
It was especially close to Danilo (Lozano), because his Dad played flute on those records (Danilo’s father, Rolando Lozano, was an original member of Santamaria’s charanga-jazz group La Sabrosa). Danilo is my close musical brother, and I said, “Danilo, one day, we’re going to revisit that so that you can go back to your roots and travel through a lot of the things that your Dad was doing in a band setting. You can play at that level too.” We got excited talking about it.
I finally told Danilo and Justo, “I think that I’m going to do this.” I had my little plan on paper, just like I always did. They asked what I was going to do and I said, “I’m going to have a flute and a violin. Justo, you’re going to play Chombo, but you’re only going to play his instrument – I don’t want you to play just like Chombo, you’re going to sound like Justo Almario. You’ll be on tenor within this new make-up of the band. Danilo, you’re going to play all your influence that your Dad had on you.
The piano chair was a little tough, but then Oscar Hernandez came around – he would play with Jazz On The Latin Side All-Stars every once in a while. I told him about it, and he said, “I’d like to be part of something like this.” I said, “Are you kidding me? That would be an honor.” I gave him some charts and asked him to arrange some of the tunes, so he started arranging some of the material. Francisco Torres, who has always been a close friend – he’s grown into an amazing arranger – he arranged some of the other stuff.
I called Ramon Banda and said, “O.K., guess what? I explained what we were going to do, and when I told him that we were doing the old Mongo stuff, he said, “Call me when you get close, I’m in.”
The early recordings always had the percussionists yelling out the coros and the vocals were really rough. I didn’t want to do the same thing; I wanted to let it evolve a little bit. I thought that we could create some really nice harmonies with the violin, flute, and tenor in between the open sections – the open sections had to be there; that was part of the magic. I thought that we could also include a lead vocalist and support him with really strong coros. We could really keep the swing of that music, but bring it into today and create a sound. I think that we were able to do that. I listen to it and there’s a very unique flavor that it has with that harmonic make-up of that instrumentation. The groove is there, because it’s all the right people.
LJC: You mentioned Danilo’s dad Rolando, who played in Mongo’s original La Sabrosa – does that bring something special to the music?
JR: It makes a huge difference. Danilo grew up with that. He was with his dad through all that. He remembers being a little kid when Mongo would come over and have dinner with them. They were all friends – Chombo, Mongo, Rolando . . . all of them. He was around these amazing musicians as a kid. He would be in the living room when they were listening to music, rehearsing, or planning music. It’s in his blood. He knows the way that it should sound. Having him involved every part of the way was enormous. That’s part of his legacy, because of his dad.
LJC: Mongo was such an influential figure, but I think that much of the jazz world doesn’t understand his full legacy. What do you think that people should know about Mongo and his music?
JR: Mongo came into latin music with some very strong influences that he integrated into his style. His music was the Cuban stuff, that’s undeniable. When he came to New York, he added to that his love for R n’ B and pop music – he loved listening to that. He also loved jazz – he was a jazz guy and he loved listening to it. He would incorporate all of those influences into his music. There were a lot of charanga bands doing that stuff at the time – it wasn’t only Mongo; Ray Barretto was doing charanga, there was La Duboney with Charlie Palmieri and Pacheco, and there was Joe Loco. But how Mongo was different was that the jazz element was already very strong for him. He threw that in there with Chombo Silva. He allowed Rolando Lozano to really just showcase the greatness in his flute playing. He didn’t just have him play a few little melodies and then he was out; he would have long extended solos. On the original “Las Guajiras,” I think that Rolando soloed through the whole tune and it sounded beautiful. These were all master musicians and Mongo showcased them as master musicians with the jazz influence. That’s how he really separated himself from the other bands that were using that charanga flavor at the time.
Then he evolved – he adjusted to the times. Later on he got more R ‘n B influenced. Then he got more into the salsa thing for a little bit. Then he went back into his Latin Jazz sound in the late seventies with all the Vaya recordings. He continued with that Latin Jazz sound. In the jazz festivals, he was recognized as the jazz representative of the Latin community. He established that for everybody else. Cal was first one to do it, but then when Mongo started to do it too, they opened the door for other Latin Jazz artists to succeed and be accepted by the jazz world.
LJC: I noticed that there are a couple of your tunes on the album that you co-wrote with Francisco – are you trying to channel Mongo or was this another chance to get some original tunes out there?
JR: It’s a combination of both. I still have all my cassettes with all kinds of stuff in there. For the next CD, I’ll probably have a few more originals. I only played trumpet up to high school, so I never really got into the arranging end. In the beginning, I would play my trumpet and write these melodies on a piece of paper, and then Francisco would take it from there. Francisco has been really patient with me; he listens to my ideas and now that he’s been working with me for about twelve years, he knows what I’m looking for. We’ve developed a system of documenting this music. He helps me write these tunes out.
With “Asi Es La Vida,” I kind of thought of it as a pachanga when I came up with it. If I’m listening to those instruments – the tenor, violin, and flute – I start thinking of the songs with all of those pieces in there. Then it just naturally comes out and fits that time. With the Jazz On The Latin Side All-Stars, I would be listening to big band music. Then those ideas would come. With Mongorama, all the tunes that I was listening to, they all had violin, flute, and tenor in them. So it was a natural thing.
On “Bubba’s Boogaloo,” I kind of thought about that for the All-Stars – I thought that a big band version of that would awesome. Then I started getting into Mongorama and I heard it differently. I heard it only with violin, flute, and tenor. So Francisco very patiently sat down and went through the details with me; he would make some suggestions, and that’s how we would create the music.
LJC: Through your work in jazz radio, you’ve gotten to know the L.A. scene very well. How would you describe the scene?
JR: I think that in Southern California, we’ve been playing Latin Jazz so long . . . it goes back to the influence of Chico Sesma in the forties and fifties. His audience is still around – when we play, a lot of those veterans come around and let us know that they used to listen to Chico. His audience is still very strong. It was a few years later when I started Jazz On The Latin Side, but the program picked up from what Chico was doing here in L.A. I think with those two shows – and there’s some good salsa shows here in town too – we’ve kind of kept the interest of the audience. They’ve been very supportive of Latin Jazz. There’s been some wonderful concerts – the audience has always been very strong. They’ve been open to Latin Jazz. When a good band comes around, they’ll come out and check them out. The support is there when people know there is Latin Jazz.
LJC: What does the future hold for Mongorama?
JR: This is a new beginning. I don’t want to let go of The Jazz On The Latin Side All-Stars. I’m going to put them on hold temporarily. There’s a lot of new stuff that people haven’t heard that we’ve performed. I just can’t do both groups at the same time – I’m also artistic director for the Central Avenue Jazz Festival, I teach, I’m at KKJZ, and I’ve got Mongorama . . . as much as I love them, I don’t have space for Jazz On The Latin Side All-Stars.
So I’m going to focus on Mongorama for another couple of CDs. I’m already getting material together for the next CD. I’ll always have Mongo material in there. I’m looking at how the CD does on the charts – hopefully it will draw some attention. I’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback from musicians. I think that we’re doing the right thing. I think that it’s a matter of time before we get on the road; with the help of my brothers Danilo Lozano and Justo Almario, we’re going to keep the music strong – they totally believe in keeping this too. I’m going to keep writing new tunes and keep working on arrangements with Francisco and Oscar. We’re in tough economical times, but our chances are better with the size of this group. We’re gong to keep documenting the group and seeing where the opportunities come.
Latin Jazz This Week will bring you a weekly look into news from the Latin Jazz world. You’ll find new releases, recommended performances, web finds, and more. You can check out some current sounds in the Listening Center tab at the top of the page. Performance dates will be kept in the Live Latin Jazz tab at the top of the page.
NEWS
This was a big week in the protest against the elimination of the Latin Jazz Grammy and 30 other categories as Bobby Sanabria, Ben Lapidus, Mark Levine and Eugene Marlow filed a class action complaint against NARAS in New York. The law suit caused quite a stir in the press, appearing across a number of channels both in the mainstream media and beyond. While I’m not going to list all the different articles that discussed the law suit, here’s a few reports that you can check out:
With the power of the law behind these musicians, NARAS simply can’t turn a deaf ear to the issue any more. President Neil Portnow gave an exclusive interview to Billboard magazine this week where he dismissed the case – you can check out that article HERE.
There’s still more that can be done – the artists behind the lawsuit are encouraging artists that are also effected by the Grammy changes to bring similar lawsuits to the table. You can also continue to write letters and encourage people to sign the petition against the Grammy changes. Get all the details over at Grammy Watch.
If you’re in CENTRAL AMERICA this week . . . EDMAR CASTANEDA WHEN: Wednesday 8/10/11 WHERE:Teatro Nacional Panama
Avda. Catedral B, 2nd.
Panama City, Panama
If you’re in EUROPE this week . . . OMAR SOSA
“Ceremony” With The NDR Big Band WHEN: Thursday 8/11/11 WHERE:Sous Chapiteau
Marciac, France TIME: 9:00 p.m. TICKETS: 10 euros – 48 euros
PAQUITO D’RIVERA
Tango Jazz WHEN: Friday 8/12/11 WHERE:Sous Chapiteau
Marciac, France TIME: 9:00 p.m. TICKETS: 10 euros – 50 euros
If you’re in CANADA this week . . . JANE BUNNETT WHEN: Sunday 8/14/11 WHERE:Bramalea City Centre
25 Peel Centre Drive
Brampton, ON TIME: 2:30 p.m. TICKETS: FREE
If you’re on the EAST COAST this week . . . ADRIANO SANTOS WHEN: Wednesday 8/10/11 WHERE:Cornelia Street Cafe
29 Cornelia Street
New York, NY TIME: 10:00 p.m. TICKETS: $10
ANNETTE A. AGUILAR WHEN: Tuesday 8/9/11 WHERE:Giovanni’s G-Bar
579 Grand Concourse
New York, NY TIME: 6:00 p.m.
CECILIA ALESSANDRA WHEN: Wednesday 8/10/11 WHERE: Terraza 7 Train Cafe
4019 Gleane Street
Elmhurst, NY TIME: 9:00 p.m. TICKETS: NO COVER
CHEMBO CORNIEL WHEN: Thursday 8/11/11 WHERE:Nuyorican Poet’s Cafe
236 East 3rd Street
New York, NY TIME: 9:00 p.m. TICKETS: $7
CIDINHO TEIXIERA WHEN: Sunday 8/14/11 WHERE:Zinc Bar
82 West 3rd Street
New York, NY TIME: 8:00 p.m., 10:00 p.m., & 11:30 p.m. TICKETS: $10 with 2 Drink Minimum
ERIC KURIMSKI WHEN: Thursday 8/11/11 WHERE: Terraza 7 Train Cafe
4019 Gleane Street
Elmhurst, NY TIME: 9:00 p.m. TICKETS: NO COVER
FRANK VILLAFAÑE WHEN: Friday 8/12/11 – Saturday 8/13/11 WHERE: Cubacan
800 Ocean Avenue
Asbury Park, NJ TIME: 8:30 p.m. TICKETS: NO COVER
GABRIEL ALEGRIA AFRO-PERUVIAN SEXTET WHEN: Friday 8/12/11 – Saturday 8/13/11 WHERE:Tutuma Social Club
164 East 56th Street
New York, NY TIME: 8:30 p.m. & 10:30 p.m. TICKETS: NO COVER
GABRIELLE TRANCHINA WHEN: Wednesday 8/10/11 WHERE:Newburgh Jazz Series
Front Street
Newburgh, NY TIME: 6:30 p.m. TICKETS: FREE
HENDRIK MEURKENS WHEN: Sunday 8/14/11 WHERE:The Bar Next Door
129 MacDougal Street
New York, NY TIME: 8:30 p.m. & 10:30 p.m. TICKETS: $12
JERRY GONZALEZ & THE FORT APACHE BAND WHEN: Friday 8/12/11 – Sunday 8/14/11 WHERE:Blues Alley
1073 Wisconsin Ave. NW
Washington, DC TIME: 8:00 p.m. & 10:00 p.m. TICKETS: $25
JOHN BENITEZ
Latin Jazz Jam Session WHEN: Sunday 8/14/11 WHERE:Terraza Cafe
40-19 Gleane Street
Elmhurst, NY TIME: 9:00 p.m. TICKETS: FREE
PEDRO GIRAUDO WHEN: Sunday 8/14/11 WHERE:Barbes
376 9th Street
New York, NY TIME: 7:00 p.m. TICKETS: $10
STEVE GLUZBAND WHEN: Wednesday 8/10/11 WHERE:The Garage
99 7th Avenue
New York, NY TIME: 10:30 p.m. TICKETS: FREE
VANDERLEI PEREIRA & BLINDFOLD TEST WHEN: Tuesday 8/9/11 WHERE:Zinc Bar
82 West 3rd Street
New York, NY TIME: 8:00 p.m., 10:00 p.m., & 11:30 p.m. TICKETS: $10 with 2 Drink Minimum
If you’re in the MID-EAST this week . . . JAMES SAUNDERS & CONJUNTO WHEN: Wednesday 8/10/11 WHERE:Jazz Showcase
806 S Plymouth Court
Chicago, IL TIME: 8:00 p.m. TICKETS: $10
PAULINHO GARCIA WHEN: Wednesday 8/10/11 WHERE:Piccolo Mondo
1642 E. 56th Street
Chicago, IL TIME: 6:00 p.m.
WHEN: Thursday 8/11/11 WHERE:Katerina’s
1920 W. Irving Park Road
Chicago, IL TIME: 8:30 p.m. TICKETS: $8
WHEN: Saturday 8/13/11 WHERE:Twin Cities Polish Festival
55 SE Main Street
Minneapolis, MN TIME: 8:30 p.m. TICKETS: FREE
If you’re on the WEST COAST this week . . . ALFREDO RODRIGUEZ
San Jose Jazz Festival WHEN: Sunday 8/14/11 WHERE:Magnolia San Jose Rep Stage
Paseo de San Antonio, between 2nd and 3rd Streets
San Jose, CA TIME: 6:00 p.m. TICKETS: $20
ARTURO SANDOVAL
San Jose Jazz Festival WHEN: Sunday 8/14/11 WHERE:Main Stage – Plaza de Cesar Chavez Park
Market Street at San Fernando
San Jose, CA TIME: 2:00 p.m. TICKETS: $20
BILL CABALLERO WHEN: Thursday 8/11/11 WHERE:Voz Alta
1754 National Avenue
Barrio Logan, CA TIME: 7:00 p.m. TICKETS: FREE
FRANCISCO AGUABELLA LATIN JAZZ BAND WHEN: Saturday 8/13/11 WHERE: Steamer’s
138 W. Commonwealth Avenue
Fullerton, CA TIME: 8:30 p.m. TICKETS: $8
GILBERT CASTELLANOS WHEN: Wednesday 8/10/11 WHERE:El Camino
2400 India Street
San Diego, CA TIME: 9:00 p.m. TICKETS: NO COVER
GRUPO FALSO BAIANO
San Jose Jazz Festival WHEN: Saturday 8/13/11 WHERE:Castellano Latin Stage
Post Street at Market
San Jose, CA TIME: 4:00 p.m. TICKETS: $20
JOHN CALLOWAY & THE LATIN COLLECTIVE
San Jose Jazz Festival WHEN: Saturday 8/13/11 WHERE:Castellano Latin Stage
Post Street at Market
San Jose, CA TIME: 2:00 p.m. TICKETS: $20
JOHN SANTOS SEXTET
San Jose Jazz Festival WHEN: Sunday 8/14/11 WHERE:Main Stage – Plaza de Cesar Chavez Park
Market Street at San Fernando
San Jose, CA TIME: 12:00 p.m. TICKETS: $20
JOVINO SANTOS NETO WHEN: Monday 8/8/11 WHERE:Ober Park
17130 Vashon Highway S.W.
Vashon, WA TIME: 6:30 p.m. TICKETS: FREE
LATIN JAZZ YOUTH ENSEMBLE OF SAN FRANCISCO
San Jose Jazz Festival WHEN: Saturday 8/13/11 WHERE:Castellano Latin Stage
Post Street at Market
San Jose, CA TIME: 12:00 p.m. TICKETS: $20
MICHELLE POLLACE’S JAZZ Y CLAVE
San Jose Jazz Festival WHEN: Sunday 8/14/11 WHERE:48 Hour Stage – Old Wagon Saloon & Grill
San Pedro Street, near St. John
San Jose, CA TIME: 8:00 p.m. TICKETS: $20
MIGUEL ZENON
San Jose Jazz Festival WHEN: Sunday 8/14/11 WHERE:Magnolia San Jose Rep Stage
Paseo de San Antonio, between 2nd and 3rd Streets
San Jose, CA TIME: 4:00 p.m. TICKETS: $20
PACIFIC MAMBO ORCHESTRA WHEN: Monday 8/8/11 WHERE:Cafe Cocomo
650 Indiana Street
San Francisco, CA TIME: 9:30 p.m. TICKETS: $10
PONCHO SANCHEZ WHEN: Tuesday 8/9/11 WHERE:Hollywood & Highland
Hollywood Boulevard at Highland Avenue
Los Angeles, CA TIME: 7:00 p.m. TICKETS: FREE
WHEN: Wednesday 8/10/11 WHERE:City Hall Lawn
12700 Norwalk Boulevard
Norwalk, CA TIME: 7:00 p.m. TICKETS: FREE
RAY OBIEDO & THE URBAN LATIN JAZZ PROJECT
San Jose Jazz Festival WHEN: Sunday 8/14/11 WHERE:Castellano Latin Stage
Post Street at Market
San Jose, CA TIME: 4:00 p.m. TICKETS: $20
WAYNE WALLACE
San Jose Jazz Festival WHEN: Saturday 8/13/11 WHERE:Castellano Latin Stage
Post Street at Market
San Jose, CA TIME: 6:00 p.m. TICKETS: $20
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Bringing together a collection of master musicians often requires more than great music, it demands some sort of magnetic force. By the time that most musicians reach a high level of artistry, they’ve come to their own ideas and conclusions about their approach to performance. The individualized nature of music almost guarantees that a room full of experienced musicians have different beliefs and comfort zones around their music life. Add the fact that they are busily focused upon their own projects into the equation, and you’ve got a challenging task pulling these musicians into one group. It can be done, but it requires the assistance of a special person that understands the artists individually and can support their needs. When this person comes into the situation, magic can happen, charging towards memorable results.
Radio personality and bandleader José Rizo built upon his huge love for Latin Jazz to form one of the West Coast’s greatest all-star bands. Rizo grew up in Oxnard, California, exploring his growing interest in music through hearing the popular music of the day and playing trumpet in high school. As he moved onto college at the University of California at Santa Barbara, Rizo became discouraged with the representation of Latino issues on the radio and decided to change it for the better. Through pure will power and determination, Rizo soon found himself hosting a public affairs show on local pop station KIST and leading a collective of hopeful radio personalities in an organization called Radio Chicano. During this time, Rizo also found inspiration in Carlos Santana’s interest in jazz, sparking a life long love for the music. As Radio Chicano found its way back to UCSB, Rizo decided to start a music show on the college’s radio station, creating a Latin music program, Barrio Salsoul. As music became a larger piece of Rizo’s life, he moved away from school, taking on a full-time job at an electronics firm. Eventually Rizo left radio and became fully focused upon completing his college degree. As he listened to local Latin Jazz shows though, he saw a lack of intelligent programming for the music on the airwaves, and he contacted local jazz station KLON. After an audition, the station saw the immense potential in Rizo and immediately hired him to host Jazz On The Latin Side. For the next ten years, Rizo provided Los Angeles with some of the best Latin Jazz available and regularly invited some of the music’s best artists into the studio. As he approached his tenth anniversary of the show, he invited a large number of musicians into the studio to celebrate the occasion. When the event became larger than the studio could hold, the station turned it into an event. Rizo enlisted local trombonist and arranger Francisco Torres to help him produce original music and recruited local record label CuBop to record the event. The night was a smashing success and the recording became two nationally released albums – Jazz On The Latin Side All-Stars Vol. 1 & Vol. 2. Word of mouth spread quickly and soon Rizo received calls for live gigs; he reconstructed the band and took it to concerts. With a successful following behind him, Rizo started his own record label and produced two more recordings, The Last Bullfighter and Tambolero. With the power of the finest Latin Jazz musicians in Los Angeles behind him, Rizo made a dent in the music world, producing several unforgettable albums and concerts.
Rizo’s hard work and determination made the Jazz On The Latin Side All-Stars a reality and carved an important spot in West Coast Latin Jazz history. While many of the group’s members had individually laid their own claims to history, the power of the collective made a monstrous splash that resonated with musicality. The group’s recordings and performance paid tribute to the importance of the individual musicians and garnered respect and tradition for the often underserved West Coast scene. In Part One of our interview with Rizo, we looked at his entry into music during his youth, his bold embrace of radio in college, and his growing love for jazz. Part Two of our interview focused upon the creation of his popular show Jazz On The Latin Side, his growth into music director at KKJZ, and the current state of public radio. Today, we dig into the evolution of the Jazz On The Latin Side All-Stars, the jam session that became their first two albums, and the group’s subsequent releases The Last Bullfighter and Tambolero.
———- LATIN JAZZ CORNER: In 2000, you had a celebration for the tenth anniversary of your radio show and that was the beginning of The Jazz On The Latin Side All-Stars. Tell me a little bit about that night and how it inspired you to create that group.
JOSÉ RIZO: The idea kind of came from my UCSB years. When I was in my early to mid-twenties, I would make these drawings of these musicians that I thought were the best and I thought, “Wouldn’t it be great to have an All-Star Band, with all the best musicians in one band?” I still have some of those early sketches. That meant a lot to me – it was the seed to do something like this. Also during those early years at UCSB, I was always humming these different melodies and ideas – my wife would say, “Where did you get that from?” I would say, “I don’t know, it just came into my head . . . but I like it!” I would record all these things on cassettes and then all of a sudden, I had a box full of cassettes with music ideas, melodies, and tunes. My wife was saying, “What are you ever going to do with that? You don’t have a band.” But I couldn’t get rid of it, there were beautiful things in there.
At KCSB, I would bring in Los Lobos to play on my show, as well as Poncho, Ruben Estrada, and different people. I’d interview them and then have these jam sessions on the radio. I’d already done some of that in college; then after being at KKJZ for a while, that bug came back to do this live on the radio. I was thinking, “I don’t really hear much of that in L.A.; it would work here.” So I started doing live sessions on the air – I had Los Lobos come in, I had Ozomatli, The Estrada Brothers, Poncho Sanchez, Bobby Rodriguez – I had a lot of different bands. One time when I had the Estrada Brothers performing, Mongo Santamaria came to the studio, sat in, and played live. Justo Almario brought him in; I interviewed Mongo, and he played with The Estrada Brothers on the radio.
On my tenth anniversary, I thought that I could do a big thing in the studio just like that. I invited twenty-three great musicians that were also friends, but then they all accepted! There were guys from Ozomatli, Los Lobos – everybody! I thought maybe only half of them would want to do something like this, but they all accepted. Then Poncho said “My band can play and then you can have everybody sit in.” I said, “That’s a lot of guys Poncho, that might not work.” I was thinking, “How am I going to fit them all into the studio?”
At the time, KKJZ was doing a big blues festival at Long Beach State and we would do a lot of concert events. So I told the concert producer about my idea and he said, “Look, that’s not going to work – let me set up a concert, call the band something, and then we’ll do a benefit for KKJZ.” So he set up a night at B.B. Kings on Universal City Walk as the place to do the benefit. We were working with them quite a bit and they were available.
Finally, I remembered those things that I had hummed onto the cassettes during my years at UCSB. Right before the B.B. King’s gig, I told Poncho, “If you don’t mind, I’d like to work with these young arrangers, like Francisco Torres to put together some of my music.” I thought that we could perform those at the gig – that would be a real treat for me. I wanted to hear the things that I heard in my head with musicians! There were the great musicians, so it was an opportunity to hear my stuff live. Francisco was young at the time; he was learning how to arrange. I asked Francisco to sit down patiently with me and listen to some of the tunes that I had on cassette and help me write them out. Francisco agreed, so he would come in and write all my tunes out.
We did a couple of rehearsals; not everybody was there. It was kind of rough, but everybody was my friend, so they were doing it for me. Then we started playing the tunes – I had different configurations of which musicians would be on each tune. We started doing it live and that’s when the magic happened. Poncho, Alex Acuña, and Justo would come to me on the side and say, “You know, this is pretty good. This actually sounds really good.” They would come up individually and tell me. I was saying, “Are you sure?” They were saying, “This is good, I like this. These are your tunes? I like them!” All of a sudden, I was thinking this was going to be great.
I invited CuBop to come in and record the band. I thought, “Well, it would be good to document this somehow.” So I brought in an engineer and they paid him for the documentation; then we signed the stuff. At that time, I didn’t know what I was signing; I was young and I was just excited that it was going to be documented. Those were all my tunes with these incredible musicians playing them and it sounded magical. So I signed all these things stupidly – I didn’t realize that I was giving away a lot of stuff.
Then a few months later, Jazz On The Latin Side All-Stars Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 came out. Everybody thought it was one band, but it was just different configurations of musicians on different tunes. I had Al McKibbon, David Hidalgo, Louie Perez, and all different people.
Then I got a call asking, “Can your band play here? I heard that your band was awesome at B.B. King’s and we’ve been hearing your music on the air. Can your band play?” I was trying to explain, “Well, it’s not really a band, it was a one night thing.” But they said, “Well, we have this much money to pay for you to play.” So I said, “Well, yea, my band can definitely play, sure.” Then I was thinking, “Oh boy, what am I getting into here? How am I going to configure these bands?”
So I sat down and figured out what instruments I would need in the band, then I called Francisco Torres. I said, “Francisco, I have a gig coming up and I want you to help me adjust some of these other arrangements to include all these instruments.” He got excited and started helping me out with those arrangements to fit a big band – some of them were sextets originally. We performed, I paid everybody well, and I thought great. Then all of a sudden, I got another call and then another call. Before I knew it, I ended up being a bandleader and I had a working band. It lasted ten years.
When I finally started getting new material together, I went back to CuBop and said, “I’ve got new material, so I’m ready to record a CD.” I wanted it to be a studio thing though, with the band. Now I had actually developed a band; before it was just a jam session with different musicians. This was now a band – now I wanted to document the actual Jazz On The Latin Side All-Stars. I said, “I’ve got my tunes and I’ve already got them all copyrighted and protected.” They said, “Wait, you can’t do that.” But I wanted to take care of my songs. They didn’t like that idea; they said, “We can’t record you if you’re going to do that. You’re going to have to do it on your own – start your own label.” I thought, “I think I will!” So that’s when I talked my wife – she was so supportive – I said, “We’re practically buying a Mercedes Benz here; I have to do this on my own.” So I went to all the guys – they were bummed out because they thought we were going to go with CuBop again. I told them, “No, I’m doing it on my own. Let’s do this!” Then we became a brotherhood.
That’s when The Last Bullfighter was recorded. We went in there, did whatever we wanted with nobody looking over our shoulders. It was a brotherhood – Francisco Aguabella, Alex Acuña, Poncho Sanchez . . .it was such a beautiful, beautiful session. They’ve all been beautiful sessions – we documented them and we did O.K. I think that The Last Bullfighter finally broke even just recently.
I thought I would do a second one and that was when Tambolero came out. At that time, Marvin “Smitty” Smith had joined me on drums too. Then it just grew. Gilbert Castellanos came in and did some trumpet. It was beautiful. Tambolero didn’t sell as well as The Last Bullfighter, but I saved some money. We did a few concerts outside of L.A., but there were 16 or 17 guys – that’s a lot of money. We did three nights at Yoshi’s in Oakland and we sold out almost every night. There were so many guys though, but they barely broke even. It was too bad – it was such amazing music, but because of the economy, it couldn’t work.
That’s when I started thinking about the old Mongo stuff – I loved that stuff, so I decided to look at it a little more. I started listening to some early Mongo stuff – I loved the violin and the charanga jazz. I loved the stuff that Bongo Logic was doing, but I wanted to do something different though, something classic and romantic, but yet with modern taste. That’s where the idea for Mongorama came from.
Come back tomorrow for Part Four of our interview with radio personality and bandleader José Rizo where we’ll dig into the development of Mongorama, discuss Mongo Santamaria’s legacy, and look into the future of the band. Don’t miss it!
Latin Jazz This Week will bring you a weekly look into news from the Latin Jazz world. You’ll find new releases, recommended performances, web finds, and more. You can check out some current sounds in the Listening Center tab at the top of the page. Performance dates will be kept in the Live Latin Jazz tab at the top of the page.
NEWS
There was still some buzz last week over pianist Mark Levine returning his Grammy nominations to NARAS, as the ramifications of his decision shock throughout the music world. You can check out an article published in The East Bay Express about Levine and his decision that has some nice links embedded to other articles about the whole Grammy issue – find it HERE. While you’re at it, take a look back at Levine’s letter to president Portnow that we published on LJC HERE. Don’t forget, you’ve got to keep an eye on this situation – don’t let NARAS eliminate the Latin Jazz Grammy and awards representing 30 other vital American musics – you can get the regular update at Grammy Watch.
I recently created a Facebook Fan page for Latin Jazz Corner – it would be great if you could visit and “Like” LJC. I’d love to use the Facebook page to continue the conversation about Latin Jazz and hopefully provide some additional content. It’s a great way to connect outside the site and show your passion for Latin Jazz – find the LJC Facebook page HERE and press the “Like” button!
On the same token, I wanted to point out that I’ve added buttons to “Like” individual posts on Facebook, Tweet about the posts on Twitter, and spread the word about LJC posts through other social media. If you’re enjoying what you’re reading, take the opportunity to spread the word among the people that you’re connected with. In reality, the more people that visit LJC, the more opportunity I have to spread the word about this music that we love. So Tweet, Like, and everything else to get the word about LJC out into the world!
If you’re in the CARIBBEAN this week . . . DAVE VALENTIN WHEN: Wednesday 8/3/11 WHERE:National Theater
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic TIME: 8:30 p.m. TICKETS: $1700 – $2800
If you’re in EUROPE this week . . . CHUCHO VALDES WHEN: Tuesday 8/2/11 WHERE:Sous Chapiteau
Marciac, France TIME: 9:00 p.m. TICKETS: 10 euros – 56 euros
HAROLD LOPEZ NUSSA
With Special Guest David Sanchez WHEN: Saturday 8/6/11 WHERE:Kulturzelt Festival
Kassel, Germany TIME: 7:30 p.m.
With Special Guest David Sanchez WHEN: Sunday 8/7/11 WHERE:Tremplin Jazz d’Avignon
15 Rue Paul Mérindol 84000
Avignon, France
WHEN: Sunday 8/7/11 WHERE:Caloganone Jazz
Sardegna, Italy TIME: 9:30 p.m.
MICHEL CAMILO WHEN: Tuesday 8/2/11 WHERE:Sous Chapiteau
Marciac, France TIME: 9:00 p.m. TICKETS: 10 euros – 56 euros
If you’re on the EAST COAST this week . . . ADRIANO SANTOS WHEN: Wednesday 8/3/11 WHERE:Zinc Bar
82 West 3rd Street
New York, NY TIME: 9:00 p.m., 10:30 p.m., & 12:00 a.m. TICKETS: $10 with 2 Drink Minimum
ANNETTE A. AGUILAR WHEN: Monday 8/1/11 WHERE:Coogan’s
4015 Broadway
New York, NY TIME: 8:00 p.m.
WHEN: Thursday 8/4/11 WHERE:Apt. 78
4447 Broadway
New York, NY TIME: 7:30 p.m.
WHEN: Friday 8/5/11 WHERE:Garden Cafe
4961 Broadway
New York, NY TIME: 7:30 P.M.
BRONX HORNS WHEN: Saturday 8/6/11 WHERE:Kent Green
41 Kent Green Boulevard
Kent CT TIME: 3:30 p.m. TICKETS: $33
CHILCANO 2.0 WHEN: Saturday 8/6/11 WHERE:Tutuma Social Club
164 East 56th Street
New York, NY TIME: 11:55 p.m. TICKETS: NO COVER
CIDINHO TEIXIERA WHEN: Sunday 8/7/11 WHERE:Zinc Bar
82 West 3rd Street
New York, NY TIME: 8:00 p.m., 10:00 p.m., & 11:30 p.m. TICKETS: $10 with 2 Drink Minimum
CURTIS BROTHERS WHEN: Thursday 8/4/11 WHERE:Nuyorican Poet’s Cafe
236 East 3rd Street
New York, NY TIME: 9:00 p.m. TICKETS: $7
>EDDIE PALMIERI
Newport Jazz Festival WHEN: Saturday 8/6/11 WHERE:Fort Adams State Park
1 Lincoln Dr
Newport, RI TIME: Festival runs 10:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.
ERIC KURIMSKI WHEN: Thursday 8/4/11 WHERE: Terraza 7 Train Cafe
4019 Gleane Street
Elmhurst, NY TIME: 9:00 p.m. TICKETS: NO COVER
FRANK VILLAFAÑE WHEN: Friday 8/5/11 – Saturday 8/6/11 WHERE: Cubacan
800 Ocean Avenue
Asbury Park, NJ TIME: 8:30 p.m. TICKETS: NO COVER
GABRIEL ALEGRIA AFRO-PERUVIAN SEXTET WHEN: Friday 8/5/11 – Saturday 8/6/11 WHERE:Tutuma Social Club
164 East 56th Street
New York, NY TIME: 8:30 p.m. & 10:30 p.m. TICKETS: NO COVER
GREGORIO URIBE BIG BAND WHEN: Thursday 8/4/11 WHERE:Zinc Bar
82 West 3rd Street
New York, NY TIME: 9:00 p.m., 10:30 p.m., & 12:00 a.m. TICKETS: $10 with 2 Drink Minimum
HENDRIK MEURKENS WHEN: Tuesday 8/2/11 WHERE:Dock’s
633 Third Avenue
New York, NY TIME: 11:30 a.m.
WHEN: Thursday 8/4/11 WHERE:The Bar Next Door
129 MacDougal Street
New York, NY TIME: 8:30 p.m. & 10:30 p.m. TICKETS: $12
JANE BUNNETT
Spirits Of Havana WHEN: Saturday 8/6/11 WHERE:Unitarian Universalist Church
28 Mugford Street
Marblehead, MA TIME: 8:00 p.m. TICKETS: $25 in advance; $27 at the door; $35 Preferred Seating
JOHN BENITEZ
Newport Jazz Festival WHEN: Saturday 8/6/11 WHERE:Fort Adams State Park
1 Lincoln Dr
Newport, RI TIME: Festival runs 10:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Latin Jazz Jam Session WHEN: Sunday 8/7/11 WHERE:Terraza Cafe
40-19 Gleane Street
Elmhurst, NY TIME: 9:00 p.m. TICKETS: FREE
MICHEL CAMILO
Newport Jazz Festival WHEN: Saturday 8/6/11 WHERE:Fort Adams State Park
1 Lincoln Dr
Newport, RI TIME: Festival runs 10:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.
MIGUEL ZENON
Newport Jazz Festival WHEN: Sunday 8/7/11 WHERE:Fort Adams State Park
1 Lincoln Dr
Newport, RI TIME: Festival runs 10:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.
RICARDO TORRES LATIN JAZZ ENSEMBLE WHEN: Wednesday 8/3/11 WHERE:Nuyorican Poet’s Cafe
236 East 3rd Street
New York, NY TIME: 9:00 p.m. TICKETS: $7
SAMUEL TORRES WHEN: Wednesday 8/3/11 WHERE: Terraza 7 Train Cafe
4019 Gleane Street
Elmhurst, NY TIME: 9:00 p.m. TICKETS: NO COVER
SOFIA KOUTSOVITIS WHEN: Saturday 8/6/11 WHERE: Hearst Plaza
Broadway at 66th Street
New York, NY TIME: 2:00 p.m. TICKETS: FREE
WHEN: Sunday 8/7/11 WHERE: Teatro Pregones
571-575 Walton Avenue
Bronx, NY TIME: 4:00 p.m.
STEVE KROON WHEN: Sunday 8/7/11 WHERE:Charles A. Dana Discovery Center
Central Park – 110th Street & Lenox Avenue
New York, NY TIME: 2:00 p.m. TICKETS: FREE
If you’re in the MID-EAST this week . . . CHICAGO AFRO-LATIN JAZZ ORCHESTRA WHEN: Thursday 8/4/11 WHERE:Grant Park
337 E Randolph Drive
Chicago, IL TIME: 6:00 p.m. TICKETS: FREE
WHEN: Saturday 8/6/11 WHERE:South Shore Cultural Center
7059 S. South Shore Drive
Chicago, IL TIME: 10:00 a.m. TICKETS: FREE
JAMES SAUNDERS & CONJUNTO WHEN: Thursday 8/4/11 WHERE:Plaza de Lago Shopping Center
1515 Sheridan Rd. Wilmette
Chicago, IL TIME: 6:00 p.m. TICKETS: FREE
If you’re in the MID-WEST this week . . . EDMAR CASTANEDA WHEN: Friday 8/5/11 WHERE:Telluride Jazz Festival
500 East Colorado Avenue
Telluride, CO TIME: 4:10 p.m. TICKETS: $55
PAQUITO D’RIVERA
Guest Soloist With Alex Brown Band – Telluride Jazz Festival WHEN: Friday 8/5/11 WHERE:Telluride Jazz Festival
500 East Colorado Avenue
Telluride, CO TIME: 9:00 p.m. TICKETS: $55
WHEN: Saturday 8/6/11 WHERE:Telluride Jazz Festival
500 East Colorado Avenue
Telluride, CO TIME: 5:25 p.m. TICKETS: $55
If you’re on the WEST COAST this week . . . BILL CABALLERO WHEN: Thursday 8/4/11 WHERE:Voz Alta
1754 National Avenue
Barrio Logan, CA TIME: 7:00 p.m. TICKETS: FREE
BRIAN ANDRES & THE AFRO-CUBAN JAZZ CARTEL WHEN: Sunday 8/7/11 WHERE:Birdland Jazzista Social Club
1733 Sacramento Street
Berkeley, CA TIME: 1:00 p.m. TICKETS: FREE
GILBERT CASTELLANOS WHEN: Wednesday 8/3/11 WHERE:El Camino
2400 India Street
San Diego, CA TIME: 9:00 p.m. TICKETS: NO COVER
GRUPO FALSO BAIANO WHEN: Wednesday 8/3/11 WHERE:Yoshi’s – Oakland
510 Embarcadero West
Jack London Square
Oakland, CA TIME: 8:00 p.m. TICKETS: $16
JOVINO SANTOS NETO WHEN: Wednesday 8/3/11 WHERE: Federal Courthouse
700 Stewart Street
Seattle, WA TIME: 12:00 p.m. TICKETS: FREE
NAGUAL WHEN: Sunday 8/7/11 WHERE:McClatchy Park
3500 5th Street
Sacramento, CA TIME: 5:00 p.m. TICKETS: FREE
PACIFIC MAMBO ORCHESTRA WHEN: Monday 8/1/11 WHERE:Cafe Cocomo
650 Indiana Street
San Francisco, CA TIME: 9:30 p.m. TICKETS: $10
PONCHO SANCHEZ WHEN: Thursday 8/4/11 WHERE:Leavitt Pavilion
85 E Holly Street
Pasadena, CA TIME: 8:00 p.m. TICKETS: FREE
WHEN: Sunday 8/7/11 WHERE:Harbor Boulevard Promenade
1st Street to 6th Street and Berth 87 at the Port of Los Angeles
San Pedro, CA TIME: 5:15 p.m. TICKETS: $10
SCOTT MARTIN WHEN: Friday 8/5/11 WHERE:Ducey’s On The Lake
54432 Road 432
Bass Lake, CA TIME: 6:30 p.m. TICKETS: $10 – $20
WHEN: Sunday 8/7/11 WHERE:Shoreline Village
429 Shoreline Village Dr # 100
Long Beach, CA TIME: 2:00 p.m. TICKETS: FREE
SONANDO WHEN: Sunday 8/7/11 WHERE:Tea House
939 25 Avenue S
Seattle, WA TIME: 5:00 p.m. TICKETS: $15
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Performing jazz can and should be similar to walking a high wire without a net – a thrilling ride that sends chills of excitement down the backs of musicians and listeners alike. It’s not just the act of improvisation that sends a group of jazz musicians on a breathtaking adventure; it’s the way in which they approach their act of spontaneous creation. A skilled jazz musician can piece together a solo by calling upon age old licks and phrases – a process that certainly demands a good deal of knowledge and ability, but in reality doesn’t require much risk taking. Constantly venturing into the unknown sheds a whole new light upon improvisation. When a musician surrounds their personal statements with this type of risk, then the real magic happens – we hear unexpected things from the musician and they run that very real risk of falling. This type of exposure and daring musicianship is rare, so when it happens, the magic should be greatly appreciated. /miguel zenon alma adentro puerto rican songbook.jpg)
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After indulging her passion for Brazilian music in Salvador da Bahia, percussionist Ami Molinelli reached an important crossroads in her life. Heading back to the United States, Molinelli needed to decide just how deeply her involvement in music would be a part of her life. Molinelli followed her passion at this point, deciding that music would become a full time career and the focus of her life. She moved to Southern California and attended CalArts, focusing her studies in the world music program. While she was there, Molinelli came into contact with a wide variety of music, such as West African and Afro-Cuban drumming, but it soon became clear that Brazilian music held her heart. On a summer trip back to the Bay Area, Molinelli met saxophone player Zach Pitt-Smith. The two musicians discovered a shared interest in Brazilian music, and they soon found themselves playing together. Pitt-Smith introduced Molinelli to 7-string guitarist Brian Moran, who also shared his deep bond to Brazil. Despite a growing musical network in the Bay Area, Molinelli got two steady teaching positions in Los Angeles, inspiring her to make that her main base. Molinelli realized that her work with Pitt-Smith and Moran held strong potential though, so as she moved forward in her career, Molinelli regularly traveled up to the Bay Area for performances. 
LATIN JAZZ CORNER: What brought you back to the States and eventually to CalArts?
AM: It was a fellow student. There were two people actually. There was this great guitar player who became a friend of mine; he introduced me to choro. Then there was a teacher there who was actually in the world percussion program – this guy’s name was Randy Gloss, a great percussionist and a great pandiero player. He brought this percussionist named Gello to the school, who played with some great musicians in Sao Paulo. Gello came for about a month. At the time, he needed a translator and a driver in order to do all these workshops that were set up for him – I got to be that person. He was so grateful and humble that he ended up just giving me tons of lessons. That was a good experience. I was really lucky to be able to study with both of them.
AM: I used to dance samba with troops in san Francisco in the carnival parade. Then at Cal Arts, I did West African dance. With Ghanaian culture, there’s no separation between the drumming and the dance. I think that in Ewe, the word is the same for dance and music. I ended up dancing a lot with them because not as many people wanted to dance as could drum. Since I had that background, they wanted me to dance. My first year, it was a struggle because they kept making me dance and I wanted to drum! It was great though – I did a lot of dance there. You’re able to do that at CalArts, it’s a neat place. 
LJC: After CalArts, was that when you came back up to the Bay Area?
A change of plan often breathes excitement into life and offers the possibility of digging deep into new paths of inspiration. Leaving yourself open to new ideas may present some initial discomfort, but almost always leads to new learning and self-discovery. Sometimes it’s simply better to ditch the plan completely and follow your passion – you never know where it might lead and the journey might be better than the destination. When this journey sends an individual towards music, the entire world benefits from their travels, as they leave behind a sonic record of their trip.
LATIN JAZZ CORNER: Where did you grow up and how did you initially get interested in music?
AM: There was no Brazilian music there at the time – this was in the nineties. There was just West African. Interestingly enough, the West African drumming was as far away from the music building as possible and the administrative staff in the music building still complained. They had the African drummers over by where they did marching band and stuff. So I had very little contact with the music building. U.C. Berkeley has a really renown Ethnomusicology program, but it was a funny thing. 
AM: My undergrad degree is in conservation and resource studies. So I worked as an intern in an environmental non-profit for a year after I graduated. Doing a nine to five job was great – I loved it – but I really missed music. I knew that my internship was going to end, and I’d started studying drum set on the side. I thought it would be a good opportunity to do some traveling. I actually had a friend who had been to Bahia in Brazil. So I kind of went for it and I went down there. I meant to go for two months, and I ended up staying for eight or nine months. 
AM: I went down to study Portuguese, so I did an intensive program. That anchored me a little bit. I ended up trading English lessons for drum lessons with a musical director of a women’s drum group. He didn’t really want to learn English – his wife had studied English and wanted him to learn. Every time that we had the trade, he set it for their rehearsal time. I think that he was trying to simply appease her. He completely thought that I no rhythm at all, so he had me playing a cowbell to see if I could just keep time. I kept going and I went from the cowbell to the triangle to the shaker through all of the auxiliary percussion. Then I ended up playing with them. I got to perform and do carnival with them as well as do this pilgrimage to a church where they celebrate the Catholic mass and they welcome the Candomblé. I got to do all these things with these girls from Salvador. It was a great experience. 
Most musicians encounter a variety of genres and styles throughout their careers, but very few of them apply those influences towards a genuinely unique output. Either by choice or necessity, many musicians will find themselves playing various musical styles, but they only get as close as they are required. Usually, a musician has a mainstay style that commands most of their attention, and any connection to another style simply puts food on the table. On a rare occasion, a musician finds themselves joyfully immersed in a variety of artistic directions, and they happily soak it all into their playing. This type of energy is addictive, and these artists generally find themselves in high demand. More importantly, they begin delivering new and exciting musical statements that emanate from their vast exposure. When these musicians move into the position of bandleader, it’s a guarantee that they’ll have something interesting to say./alfredo chacon magic place.jpg)
Radio personality and bandleader José Rizo built upon his years of experience with Latin Jazz to reveal a new perspective on a legendary figure. Growing up in Oxnard, California, Rizo flirted with music but didn’t dive deeply into the art form until he started college at the University of California at Santa Barbara. Discouraged by the representation of Latinos on the radio, Rizo found a spot on local station KIST in a public affairs show and began training his peers to do the same through an organization called Radio Chicano. Inspired by a budding love for jazz and Latin music, Rizo established a music show on UCSB entitled Barrio Salsoul, helped organize local concerts, and made connections with the area’s musicians. Life altered Rizo’s path and he left radio for many years, until he noticed a lack of smart programming around Latin Jazz. He organized an audition with Los Angeles station KLON, and impressed the station with his smart programming; they quickly integrated him into their schedule. Rizo’s show, Jazz On The Latin Side became one of the station’s most popular programs, and after ten years, Rizo organized an event to celebrate the show’s success. The best Latin Jazz artists in Los Angeles jumped into a jam session organized around music composed by Rizo, CuBop Records captured the event, and the live recordings became 
LATIN JAZZ CORNER: When talking about Mongo Santamaria, it’s so easy to jump into the more funk influenced stuff that he did later in his career, but you focused upon the repertoire from his La Sabrosa period. What was it that focused you in upon that one era of Mongo’s career?
JOSÉ RIZO: My close musical brothers – Justo Almario, Danilo Lozano, and Poncho Sanchez – we’ve always loved that stuff. When Poncho and I used to hang out, we would listen to records just for the fun of it, and we would always go back to Live At The Blackhawk from Mongo Santamaria. We’d listen to that, I’d play a little congas, and Poncho would get on the timbales; we’d hang out and just have fun listening to the stuff. So I fell in love with that period; it was close to all of us.
The piano chair was a little tough, but then Oscar Hernandez came around – he would play with Jazz On The Latin Side All-Stars every once in a while. I told him about it, and he said, “I’d like to be part of something like this.” I said, “Are you kidding me? That would be an honor.” I gave him some charts and asked him to arrange some of the tunes, so he started arranging some of the material. Francisco Torres, who has always been a close friend – he’s grown into an amazing arranger – he arranged some of the other stuff. 
I thought that we could also include a lead vocalist and support him with really strong coros. We could really keep the swing of that music, but bring it into today and create a sound. I think that we were able to do that. I listen to it and there’s a very unique flavor that it has with that harmonic make-up of that instrumentation. The groove is there, because it’s all the right people. 
JR: Mongo came into latin music with some very strong influences that he integrated into his style. His music was the Cuban stuff, that’s undeniable. When he came to New York, he added to that his love for R n’ B and pop music – he loved listening to that. He also loved jazz – he was a jazz guy and he loved listening to it. He would incorporate all of those influences into his music. There were a lot of charanga bands doing that stuff at the time – it wasn’t only Mongo; Ray Barretto was doing charanga, there was La Duboney with Charlie Palmieri and Pacheco, and there was Joe Loco. But how Mongo was different was that the jazz element was already very strong for him. He threw that in there with Chombo Silva. He allowed Rolando Lozano to really just showcase the greatness in his flute playing. He didn’t just have him play a few little melodies and then he was out; he would have long extended solos. On the original “Las Guajiras,” I think that Rolando soloed through the whole tune and it sounded beautiful. These were all master musicians and Mongo showcased them as master musicians with the jazz influence. That’s how he really separated himself from the other bands that were using that charanga flavor at the time. 
JR: It’s a combination of both. I still have all my cassettes with all kinds of stuff in there. For the next CD, I’ll probably have a few more originals. I only played trumpet up to high school, so I never really got into the arranging end. In the beginning, I would play my trumpet and write these melodies on a piece of paper, and then Francisco would take it from there. Francisco has been really patient with me; he listens to my ideas and now that he’s been working with me for about twelve years, he knows what I’m looking for. We’ve developed a system of documenting this music. He helps me write these tunes out.
Bringing together a collection of master musicians often requires more than great music, it demands some sort of magnetic force. By the time that most musicians reach a high level of artistry, they’ve come to their own ideas and conclusions about their approach to performance. The individualized nature of music almost guarantees that a room full of experienced musicians have different beliefs and comfort zones around their music life. Add the fact that they are busily focused upon their own projects into the equation, and you’ve got a challenging task pulling these musicians into one group. It can be done, but it requires the assistance of a special person that understands the artists individually and can support their needs. When this person comes into the situation, magic can happen, charging towards memorable results.
JOSÉ RIZO: The idea kind of came from my UCSB years. When I was in my early to mid-twenties, I would make these drawings of these musicians that I thought were the best and I thought, “Wouldn’t it be great to have an All-Star Band, with all the best musicians in one band?” I still have some of those early sketches. That meant a lot to me – it was the seed to do something like this. Also during those early years at UCSB, I was always humming these different melodies and ideas – my wife would say, “Where did you get that from?” I would say, “I don’t know, it just came into my head . . . but I like it!” I would record all these things on cassettes and then all of a sudden, I had a box full of cassettes with music ideas, melodies, and tunes. My wife was saying, “What are you ever going to do with that? You don’t have a band.” But I couldn’t get rid of it, there were beautiful things in there.
At the time, KKJZ was doing a big blues festival at Long Beach State and we would do a lot of concert events. So I told the concert producer about my idea and he said, “Look, that’s not going to work – let me set up a concert, call the band something, and then we’ll do a benefit for KKJZ.” So he set up a night at B.B. Kings on Universal City Walk as the place to do the benefit. We were working with them quite a bit and they were available. 
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