New Beyond Salsa Video

This is the longest one yet - 55 minutes - so I added a Table of Contents of links in the description so you can skip around - there are sections for dancers, drummers, and fans of various groups.

Thursday, 25 July 2024, 12:04 AM

The 9th Annual SalsaRueda Fest featured Timbalive with two current and two ex-VanVaneros, including new Bay Area resident Yenisel Valdés, who also made her Santa Cruz debut at the Center Street Food Lounge. Here are links to Tom Ehrlich's galleries from the Festival: concert - soundcheck.

Thursday, 25 July 2024, 12:04 AM

... another of the greatest timba concerts ever preserved: Issac Delgado at Casa Cultura on Valentine's Day, 1997, featuring Melón Lewis, Alain Pérez, Daria Delgado, Georvis Pico, Joaquín Betancourt, Andrés Cuayo and many more. Some of the individual songs have been on youtube for a while but now we have the full concert in very high quality - dubbed directly from Mike Croy's original digital camera tape.

Coming later this week are two epic Paulito FG concerts, including the final show before his stupendously great 1998 band broke up. If you want to get in the mood for this, here's a youtube segment that will teach you how to spot Paulito's inimitable hand signal method for changing gears spontaneously.

PFG is truly the Steph Curry of timba. And these concerts have never been on youtube in any form. Entonces ... prepárense!

Also, in case you missed it, we've also recently added the Charanga Habanera Suspension Concert Restoration Project. The idea here is to find all the various audio and video files of this historic 1997 concert and put everything in order with the best quality media in each case. The cool thing here is that the concert went on after the censors pulled the plug, so we have audio of several additional songs, including two great ones that Charanga Habanera never recorded in the studio. If you're not up to speed on the infamous suspension you can catch up on your charanga chisme here and here.

Thursday, 25 July 2024, 12:04 AM

ACAS at Kuumbwa Jazz Center - all photos by Tom Ehrlich - full gallery coming soon

The current incarnation of Juan de Marcos and the Afro-Cuban All Stars may be the best in its legendary, star-studded 20-year history. They'll be in LA at the Catalina Bar & Grill tonight through Saturday and in Phoenix on Sunday.

De Marcos quipped that when he started the band he was the youngest member, surrounded by octogenarian legends. Now he's the oldest and he's assembled a blazing hot young band that's as much about innovation as celebrating the past.

Tany Allende, Caleb Michel, Asley Rosell, Marcos Crego, Jiovanni Cofiño

The rhythm section is tight, intense and never too loud - with de Marcos' daughter Gliceria on vibes and synth, ex-Klímax pianist Marcos Crego, ex-Revé musical director Jiovanni Cofiño on bass and a stunning young rhythm section with Arizona-born Caleb Michel on timbales, Tany Allende on congas and newcomer Asley Rosell on bongó.

Juan de Marcos

De Marcos has become an excellent singer and now uses only one additional lead vocalist, Emilio Suárez, who's also started contributing original compositions.

Juan de Marcos, Laura Lydia González

But what continually blows me away about this band is the horn section. While finding a spot in the band for his younger daughter Laura, de Marcos hit on an idea that works so brilliantly it's a wonder that no other bands have adopted it. Placing a bass clarinet below three trumpets creates a completely unique sound and an ensemble capable of sounding as in tune as three trombones, and as ferocious as the agile, but often unruly combination of trumpets and saxes.

Laura Lydia González

Laura Lydia González combines the accuracy and perfect intonation of a classical player with the bite and rhythmicattack of a percussionist. She also solos on the standard Bb clarinet as I've never heard it played - almost reinventing the instrument. The traditionally straight-laced clarinet tends to be more accurate but less expressive than the sax, but Laura plays with a wailing, soaring tone that sounds more like a soulful trumpet. If you're anywhere near LA or Phoenix don't miss this one.

Juan de Marcos, Emilio Suárez, Laura González, Gliceria González