Miami's old-guard Cuban exiles exert less influence -- "When you go to the airport and take one of these flights to Cuba, you realize the median age is no longer in their 60s or 70s." Popular Cuban musicians once greeted with bomb threats and boisterous demonstrations now pack venues in the city. After the concerts, the artists gather at the homes of relatives and old friends in South Florida. A decade ago, many of the musicians would defect. Now most return to Cuba. source

Young Cuban pianist makes jazz waves -- If you live in New York be sure to check out young Fabián Almazán. He's playing in heavywieght trumpeter and Spike Lee movie composer Terence Blanchard’s band, but hés also got his own jazz trio. Smoking. 9 and 10:30 p.m., Cornelia Street Café, 29 Cornelia Street, Greenwich Village, (212) 989-9319, corneliastreetcafe.com; $15 cover, with a $10 minimum. With bassist Linda Oh and the drummer Henry Cole.

Gloria Estefan & Ricky Martin on Glee? -- rumor has it Ricky will play a Spanish teacher and Gloria will take on the role of a mom. "Glee" is the most popular music-focused television show in the U.S. source

Italy-based "Timba EN Talla" releases new CD "Pa'l Mundo" --  anyone know who these musicians are? Well-versed in jazz, these guys certainly have the chops. Bomba's galore. Here's a new video below....

Cachao's "The Last Mambo" nominated for Best Tropical Latin Album --  no question this master deserves another Grammy nod. It's a celebration of post-revolution Cuban music and tradition....descargas, danzones, cha cha cha,  El Cuarto De Tula featuring Issac Delgado, etc. However it begs the question: When will people get motivated to support more modern projects? Also related: hey salseros...the 1970's was 40 years ago.  

Cuban Festival in New Zealand -- yeah that's right. There'll be rumba and Cuban cha-cha as the world's top salsa dancers take to the floor in New Zealand during the next three days. Salsa on the Awa is hosting the third annual New Zealand Cuban Festival, which opens tonight. Salsa workshops today are open to the public (7pm-10.30pm) followed by a salsa dance party, and tomorrow workshops start from 9.30am and run to 5pm, with others on Sunday (9.30am-1pm).source

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photo by Peter Maiden

UPDATE: Manolín & Cofiño are also in Los Angeles tomorrow, Saturday, Feb. 9th at the Florentine Gardens.

You may not have heard of Jiovanni Cofiño, but you've heard his music. As the musical director of Elito Revé y su Charangón, he penned such classic arrangements as Dale agua al dominó, 1999 and Se sigue comentando (Uyuyui). He's also a brilliant and thoughtful bassist who's been a huge help to me and other writers on timba such as Orlando Fiol. Cofiño has been in Las Vegas for about 7 years or so where he's put together a very tight and steady working band. From a timba fan's perspective, this means that Manolín has been working with a cohesive, well-rehearsed band led by one of Cuba's best arrangers. One can fantasize about major creative sparks flying, but if nothing else it'll be a chance to hear El Médico finally doing some new timba such as the tracks he introduced last year as SF SalsaRueda. 

The doors open at 7:00, Sunday night at Café Cócomo in SF, with DJ Walt Digz opening and dance lessons provided.

Speaking of SF SalsaRueda, that's coming the following weekend and features the usual staggering selection of bands, instructors, performers and lecturers, including my favorite writer, Ned Sublette.

And speaking of lectures, there's a very exciting free one from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m., also Sunday, by Umi Vaughan at the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) at 685 Mission St. in SF. Vaughan wrote an excellent book on batá legend Carlos Aldama and has now released his second major treatise on timba: Rebel Dance, Renegade Stance.  The lecture also features music by the ubiquitous DJ Walt Digz and should be a perfect hors d'oevre for el Médico & Cofiño later that night. See you there! [Kevin Moore]

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continue reading La Última

Up until now, we thought that the odds of our using the words "Timba", "dance band" , "explosive" and "quartet" in the same sentence were roughly equal to our chances of feeding a real live unicorn at the local zoo.  Well, two nights of the Pedrito Martinez Group in Milwaukee and Chicago have persuaded us that we might need to consider the possibility that those unicorns could be real after all.  This quartet really is  an explosive Timba dance band with added measures of killer funk bass and excellent Rumba chops.  They tore the roof off in Milwaukee and Chicago and lifted the crowds out of their seats both places.  What's more, they did it without the electronic toys that some bands use for cheating. 

(CLICK HERE TO READ ALL ABOUT IT AND CHECK OUT OUR PHOTOS )

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Alfonso Nuñez & Ernesto Mazar

Attention Charangueros and Bassists of Europe! Last night just before the start of the Charanga Habanera concert in Stockholm two of the tuning keys in Ernesto's bass broke! We were lucky. Disaster was narrowly averted by fellow bassist and former member of Adalberto Álvarez y su Son, Alfonso Nuñez who was able to help Ernesto in his moment of need. But there are 13 concerts left on the tour! So after the show Ernesto made a heartfelt plea to other bassists to help out. You just can't have timba without a bass! Stay tuned for a full concert report later. Here is the video, sorry about the volume level of the music, but after all, we were at a club.

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