Old-school house heads know King Britt for early-Nineties smash dance hits like “Tribal Confusion,” coauthored with Josh Wink in 1993, as well as his latter-day DJ sets of deep, jazzy beats. As for everyone else — well past their teen years, that is — they probably remember “Cool Like That,”…
ArtOfficial delivers a sound that shatters the line between jazz and hip-hop. The unification of the remnants of local hip-hop group Soul What? merged with reggae funk band Defoncé, spawning rich lyrics and instrumentals. Danny P., Ralf Valencia, Manny Patino, Keith Cooper, Newsense, and Afterlogic make for an interesting, inspirational…
The Waterford Landing was voted Best Pop Band in this year’s New Times “Best of Miami” issue. In 2005 it was selected as a Personal Best, won the Readers’ Choice award, and picked up Best Electronic Group. But Alex Caso, keyboardist and singer, remains somewhat mystified about the acclaim. “I’ve…
Metal signifiers prominently figure into the music of Italian duo Ovo: Bruno’s snare ‘n’ tom bash-dash underscoring Stefania Pedretti’s strained (sometimes churlish), demon-possessed vocals bring to mind Linda Blair in The Exorcist and Old Time Relijun’s Arrington de Dionyso alike. Yet metal they aren’t, really. On their latest recording, the…
Putumayo’s reach is truly global. What began as a clothing line has morphed into a world music label that for more than ten years has been producing compilation albums that highlight artists from nearly every continent. Named for a Colombian river valley, the label has enjoyed a hearty serving of…
Continuing to build on his blues-tinged foundation after collaborating on an album with the legendary B.B. King titled Riding with the King and compiling a full-length of Robert Johnson covers, the British guitarist and former frontman for timeless bands such as Cream, the Yardbirds, and Derek and the Dominoes will…
In accordance with the museum’s thematic exploration of the relationship between video and music, Miami Art Central hosts “Images from the Composer’s Eyes: A Concert of Works for Video and Video with Instruments,” a mélange of musical compositions entwined with video from Florida International University’s NODUS Ensemble. Although the title…
Bossacucanova is a premeditated fusion of European electronica and Brazilian bossa nova. The group — DJ Marcelinho DaLua, bassist Márcio Menescal, and keyboardist Alexandre Moreira — offers a wild live performance that includes the beautiful vocals of Brazilian singer Cris Delano. Uma Batida Diferente, the band’s latest album, features guest…
Second-guessing the state of commercial hip-hop could become the next no-budget ESPN thing once Celebrity Poker buggers off. You’d need look no further than Slow V and Retrospect to find a couple of locals eager to expel some froth on cable or anyplace else. “Today’s clubs, to me, are like…
Bebo Valdés, the supremely gifted 87-year-old pianist, master arranger, and star of Miami’s Calle 54 Records, joins the powerful Arturo O’Farrill-directed Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra to perform “Suite Cubana.” Valdés describes his grand, Grammy-winning composition as “the realization of a dream.” Valdés radiates a friendly confidence that carries through to the…
Although Brittany Murphy’s attempt to raise temperatures with her sex-o-licious purring on Paul Oakenfold’s latest single, “Faster Kill Pussycat,” is bound to score with postadolescent Maxim readers, anyone who has ever set foot in a club knows it takes more than heavy breathing to heat up the dance floor. The…
Evoking an aura of tiki huts, toothpick umbrellas in amaretto sours, and red velvet wallpaper, Bossacucanova takes the mondo-cool sounds of 1960s-era bossa nova and re-creates its vibrancy with funk, hip-hop breakbeats, rotating turntables, digital technology, and skillful mixing. The result is a concoction of classic and new bossa nova…
A Cuban star who found his way to Miami via Colombia in 1961, Carlos Oliva jammed with Julio Gutiérrez and Willy Chirino. Oliva’s stealthy fusion of rock, jazz, samba, son, guaracha, and other Cuban rhythms makes each song sound like an original. His newest CD, Yayabo, includes conga songs such…
Raul Ramirez’s one-man electronica show deploys computers, synthesizers, laser beams, keyboards, bass, guitar, and electro-acoustic drums. “Ecomusica tries to bring harmony to the environment and its listeners. So I try to contribute my own little grain of sand in trying to make this world a little better by making music…
Citing musical influences such as Eminem, OutKast, Nirvana, and Bob Marley, JD Natasha is an alt-girl rocker with an international flair. The Kendall native’s album Imperfect/Imperfecta, a mostly Spanish-language album penned by this young star, takes risks and explores a variety of genres. Following in Shakira’s footsteps, JD Natasha plans…
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…
Raul Midón spent years building a reputation in the Magic City, performing at spots like the Van Dyke Café and singing backup for Latin pop stars like Jennifer Lopez and Alejandro Sanz. He even landed a contract with BMG US Latin, which issued his Gracias a la Vida. His journey…
What could be more fun than a Saturday-evening show with Humbert, Hialeah’s very best rock band? How about a show with newcomer Pyrojet, debuting its first effort, Living Funeral; and the ever-present the Stop Motion? Humbert blends a certain kind of quirky pop with stick-in-your-craw songwriting skills. Following a successful…
Gregg Foreman, the mastermind behind the shifting musical lineup that performs as the Rare Birds, is indeed an exotic specimen in Miami. Under the moniker “Mr. Pharmacist” (cribbed from a song by the Fall), Foreman is one of the most prolific rock DJs around town. But even in his native…
The Miami jazz fusion circuit has become somewhat of a phenomenon. Although the genre has existed since the Sixties, a noticeable surge in horns and keyboards has taken over local bands and nightclubs. Suddenly every band is a jazz-funk-rock-R&B crossover. From Brazilian to Afro-Cuban, avant-garde to acid, jazz is quickly…
Grunge as it could only be interpreted on the Sunset Strip, Red Rover is perhaps the ultimate set piece. On Agent Sparks’ debut album, these Angelinos recast mid-Nineties Northwest sludge as artful noise, full of thick, rolling bass lines and sculpted squalls of feedback. The band’s parallel universe imagines Cobain…
Slide Hampton, longtime friend and associate of jazz legend John Birks “Dizzy” Gillespie, will be leading the moving tribute to this fallen hero at the Frost School of Music. Nine years after his death, Gillespie’s memory lives on in the minds of all jazz fiends. A major player in the…
