Angélique Kidjo and Pedríto Martínez

Monterey Jazz was tremendous - those photos coming soon. Here's the first gallery from San José Jazz Summerfest.

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Miami, Florida, Saturday, September 9:
Sintesis, one of Cuba's most important Afrocuban Fusion groups,  will be performing at Copper Fest at the Museum of Contemporary Art, 770 Northeast 125th Street, North Miami, Florida..  They are the last of four bands and the festival and are scheduled for 9pm.   Degnis Bofill, one of Cuba's most impressive young percussionists (and a 2016 JoJazz winner as a soloist) will be on tour with them.  More details about Copper Fest can be found on the Copper Fest web page. 

New York, Saturday, September 9:
Albertico Lescay will be playing with Arturo O'Farrill and Blitz  at the 4th Annual Music on Southern Blvd Festival (Southern Boulevard and 163rd St, NYC)  at 12:30 in the afternoon.  More information is available at the Casita Maria website.  This is an excellent opportunity to hear Albertico,  one of Cuba's rising young Jazz and NuJazz  artists who is visiting a few cities in the Eastern US.  He has been collaborating with a few groups while here, and one hopes that we will eventually be able to see his ensemble, Formas, perform in the United States. 
As for Arturo O'Farrill, he has been doing a lot of impressive work both in the studio and on stage with musicians from Cuba and may now have the most extensive current resume of such projects among Jazz musicians in the US.

Palm Springs, California, Saturday, October 14:
Most of Chuchito Valdes' recent outings in the US have been with a trio,  this is an opportunity to hear him with percussionists Calixto Oviedo and Luis Conte as well as Diego Figueirdo, Carol Welsman and Geraldo Aguillon.   More information and tickets can be found at tickets.psmuseum.org.






Chuchito Valdés, incidentally, will soon release a new album, Sueño que te beso, in collaboration with Juan Poch.  More on this in the future.

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Chuchito Valdes, who has graced these pages many times in recent years, is currently on tour in the US, and his next performance is at the Jazz At Five festival on the corner of State and Mifflin Streets in Madison, Wisconsin on Wednesday, August 16 at 4:00-8:00pm.  You can find more information about this free concert at the Jazz at Five Event Page
Chuchito will also be releasing a new album very soon, Sueño que te beso.   This is a collaborative project with Spanish composer Juan Poch, and it will be something of a departure from Chuchito's earlier recorded work.   Chuchito tells us that with the state of heightened tensions in the word right now, he wanted to release something a little mellower to help send a message of peace.   We'll have more about the album when it is ready for release (it is still in its final stages).  
Finally, there is now a Chuchito Valdes website, chuchitovaldes.com

Brenda Navarrete will soon release her debut solo album Mi Mundo, with the digital release coming in September and the physical CD after the first of the year.    At the moment she is on tour in Canada with performances on Friday August 18 at Hugh's Room in Toronto (details and tickets here) and at the Markham Jazz Festival at the MacKay Art Centre on Sunday, August 20 (details here)

(Photo courtesy David Pye)

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SEPTETO SANTIAGUERO TOUR CONTINUES
Saturday night, Septeto Santiaguero tore the roof off of Martyrs at their Chicago concert.  I know that I may start some arguments and hurt some feelings, but this IS Cuba's best working traditional Septeto right now.  Your can see a photo gallery here.  Meanwhile, they are in Madison, Wisconsin and Minneapolis, Minnesota and Los Angeles next, as follows:
Tuesday, August 8:  North Street Cabaret, Madison, Wisconsin
Wednesday, August 9:  Dakota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 
Thursday, August 10: The Central Park Sessions, Central Park, Madison, Wisconsin
Friday, August 11:  Grand Performances, Los Angeles, CA (with Vocal Vidas)
IF YOU CAN, GO SEE THIS GROUP!!!!!!!   

VOCAL VIDAS US TOUR
The a capella tradition is Cuba is not just a man thing - there's Vocal Vidas, a female quartet from Santiago de Cuba.  Well, OK, they cheat just a wee bit - they use a little hand percussion, but other than that, they are a capella, and that does not diminish them at all - their voices are wonderful.   They are out in California right now and very much worth seeing as follows in metro LA: 
Tuesday, August 8:  Herb Alpert's Vibrato  Grill
Friday, August 11:  Grand Performances (with Septeto Santiaguero)

ALBERTICO LESCAY IN THE EASTERN US 


We mentioned recently that Albertico Lescay is visiting the US and performing both as an invited guest with the Afro Yaqui Music Collective and presenting some of the music of his own project, FORMAS, with US musicians.   Here are this week's dates with more to follow in the future:
Friday, August 11:  Afro Yaqui Music Collective with special guest Albertico Lescay 
Ginny's Supper Club, New York, NY
Saturday, August 12:  Albertico Lescay presents the music of FORMAS with invited guests opening for Villalobos Brothers, part of a benefit performance for migrant justice 
Barnard Vermont
Albertico also did a workshop in Pittsburgh at the Pryse Academy in Pittsburgh, an institution that works with refugee youth, presenting his music and discussing the importance of music in cultural identity.   
Albertico Lescay  is an artist to watch.   You'll be hearing a lot more about him within a year. 

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