Although flamenco is the main source of inspiration for this world-renowned Spanish band, the eight members of Ojos de Brujo tend to incorporate various musical influences into their compositions. What else can you expect from a band of gypsies who hail from Barcelona, a literal crossroads for the best musical…
In 2003, trombonist Conrad Herwig performed a weeklong engagement at New York’s Blue Note with a nine-piece ensemble that featured pianist Edsel Gomez and legendary reedsman Paquito D’Rivera for a show billed as “The Latin Side of Miles Davis.” Three nights were recorded, including the Grammy-nominated Another Kind of Blue,…
After its first single, “Don’t Let Go,” was featured on last year’s soundtrack to the film La Mujer de Mi Hermano, this Bronx-based duo formed by Dominican-born singer Nova (keys, guitar, vocals) and Colombian-born instrumentalist Maya (bass) finally emerges with its debut album. This is one of the most intriguing…
The son of the recently departed Malian singer and guitarist Ali Farka Touré continues his father’s legacy with style and grace. Thankfully he is also able to live up to his famous surname when it comes to Malian blues. Almost predictably Vieux’s self-titled debut album is drenched in musical influences…
Don’t think there is a power failure when you suddenly find yourself sitting in pitch darkness inside the theater. This just happens to be the beginning of Universo Particular, the heavily produced show that Brazilian-born Marisa Monte — in her first U.S. tour in five years — organized to promote…
After six years dedicated to solo outings and relentless touring (which didn’t stop rumors of an imminent breakup), the Colombian rock duo formed by Andrea Echeverri and Hector Buitrago finally emerged with an album of new material, Oye, which has the band returning to the more acoustic roots of earlier…
Brazilian-based singer-guitarist Badi Assad lived in Sarasota for a while in the Nineties, but this concert marks her first official one in Florida since she decided to radically change her musical style, switching from a classical/experimental format to a more jazz-inflected pop style. “I started out playing chorinho and then…
On the heels of his new release, Who Let the Cats Out? (Heads Up), the three-time Grammy nominee weaves various musical influences into his guitar-playing. “I am a jazz player,” he says, “but you have to follow your musical heart.” He must have learned this lesson while performing with Miles…
Richard Bona, an enigmatic, Brooklyn-based Cameroonian bass player and singer, explores several musical directions on Tiki. The opening track, “Please Don’t Stop,” grabs attention with its catchy beat, soul-inflected keyboards, and soulful vocals by John Legend. Brazil’s influence is evident throughout the album; for example, Djavan performs a duet on…
On Carnaval Eletronico, Brazilian Daniela Mercury commissioned electronic DJs to retrofit classic compositions such as Gilberto Gil’s “Amor de Carnaval” with snappy, electro beams. The songs manage to balance sensuous rhythms with complex modern arrangements. “I have always been eclectic,” Mercury says. “Axé is still a genre in development, and…
Negroni’s Trio, a local father-son collaboration, delivers a sharp, closely-knit sound that liberally draws from the rich roots of Latin music while keeping an open ear to other jazz influences. The aesthetic is on full display on their recently released CD, Piano/Bass/Drums (Universal Music Latino). On the original “Mavi,” they…
This gifted Brazilian singer/guitarist takes us on a journey back in time as he draws inspiration from the sounds that came from Bahia in the early Seventies (Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso, and Novos Baianos) and deftly mixes them with the retro cool of Fifties bossa nova. On his recently released…
From Jamaican dub to European electro, Zuco 103 scours the world for its exceptional new album, Whaa! The European-Brazilian group blends its light electronica with the Latin rhythms of bossa nova legend Roberto Menescal, the dub thump of reggae pioneer Lee “Scratch” Perry, and the quirky, cute vocals of Spanish…
Arturo Sandoval is one of the most accomplished and versatile musicians in Miami. A Cuban-born trumpet player and former Dizzy Gillespie protégé, Sandoval has performed with artists as diverse as Frank Sinatra, Patti LaBelle, Gloria Estefan, and many others. His solos on Sinatra’s Duets II album still induce goose bumps…
When Luciana Souza takes the stage, the Grammy-nominated jazz singer projects a power both hypnotic and jarring. In the voice of Souza — a slender brunette in her late thirties — resides the subtle refinement of a classically trained singer cut with the passion of a child raised by legendary…
Music is always being reinvented, and when it comes to the bossa nova beat, it is appropriate that the style’s creators would pass the baton to musicians generated and raised among them such as bassist Marcio Menescal, son of Roberto Menescal and a member of Bossacucanova, a trio that also…
Guitarist and singer-songwriter Oliver Mtukudzi blends the influences, percussive sounds, and language of his native Zimbabwe with modern instruments and jazz-inflected arrangements on Nhava. On “Izere Mhepo,” electric guitarist Philani “Mzala” Dube plays a beautiful set of riffs around Mtukudzi’s story of a family who “is split in numerous directions,…
Throughout his career Brazilian-born saxophonist and composer Livio Tragtenberg has innovated in the field of electronic music under the influence of John Cage and in the concrete and visual poetry movement of his native land. In Tragtenberg’s latest work, he partners with real-time video artist Benton C. Bainbridge (who has…
The Brazilian legend began his career with “Mas Que Nada,” a bossa nova classic which was since re-recorded by virtually everyone in the movement. During the Seventies, he helped to revolutionize pop music in Brazil by blending the sounds of Rio samba with styles inspired by the likes of James…
On her self-titled Grammy-winning debut, Brazilian Maria Rita shows that she is more than the daughter of the late Elis Regina. She has a talent and style of her own, which she proves through strong renditions of the bluesy “Não Vale a Pena” (“It’s Not Worth It”) and Milton Nascimento’s…
Lulu Santos was partly responsible during Brazil’s Eighties rock explosion for reestablishing the electric guitar in his native Rio after disco had relegated it to a lesser status. Influenced by surf rock and The Beatles (one of his early numbers was a remake of “Get Back” with Portuguese lyrics by…
When legendary Brazilian rocker Rita Lee was admitted to a São Paulo hospital for exhaustion in July, her fans feared the worst. But she says the event was foreshadowed long ago. “During the Seventies, I wrote a song with [The Alchemist author] Paulo Coelho called öSuperestafa’ [öSuperstress’], so feeling exhausted…
