Goldenfingers
If the nickname smacks of Liberace, rest assured, Goldenfingers (a.k.a. Alexis Ortega) has no interest in tinkling out nauseating rococo and delivering up lisping patter by the light of a candelabra. A native of Santiago de Cuba, Ortega is a Latin jazz maestro who plays thirteen different instruments (though not, we're told, at the same time). He put in eight years as the musical director for Emilio and Gloria Estefan at their restaurant Lario's on the Beach, along with playing at the Van Dyke Cafe and numerous festivals. He's played private gigs as well, including the wedding of Jennifer Lopez, if that can be considered private. He's also performed not once, not twice, but three times for President George W. Bush, something we'll try not to hold against him. His music — an inimitable fusion of jazz, classical, R&B, funk, rock, and Afro-Cuban — is showcased on his latest album, Siglos y días. For his live show, Ortega will have a quartet of veterans backing him: Carlos J. Averhoff Jr. on saxes and flute, Rangel Rabelo on bass, Alexis Cuesta on Afro-Cuban percussion, and Eugenio Doria on drums.
