Tom Ehrlich reporting for La Última

Eliades Ochoa had already hatched the idea for the Afro-Cubism project when the Buena Vista Social Club phenomenon swept him onto the world stage in 1997. Now, 15 years later, his original vision has finally been realized: master musicians from Cuba playing son with master musicians from the African country of Mali playing traditional Malian music. I was thrilled to photograph the historic collaboration on a magical afternoon of music at Stern Grove Park in San Francisco. Click here the full gallery. [Tom Ehrlich]

leave a comment

continue reading La Última

Hey Midwesterners - need a break from government shutdowns, union-busting and homicidal supreme court justices? Maraca's new timba band will be in MN, WI and IL on the 6th, 9th and 10th - then on to Indiana, Detroit and South Dakota before arriving at SOBs in NY. Here's the full tour schedule - Bill Tilford's review of the new CD/DVD - and Tom Ehrlich's extensive photo gallery from the SF leg of the tour.

If he used both hands it just wouldn't be fair.

leave a comment

continue reading La Última

click here to pre-order from amazon.com

Tiempo Libre's My Secret Radio is very hot, take-no-prisoners timba, laced with all sorts of great bloques, gear changes and slick arranging. The new member (2nd from the right, standing) is Pututi III, and he's an amazing drummer who lives up to the reputations of his two older brothers (who recorded all the classic Manolín records) and his cult legend father (who should be Pututi I, and everybody else should have one number added, but ...). Anyway, the album is mostly pure timba dura, with one clever Earth Wind & Fire cover (it works well in Spanish) and a guest appearance from Albita.

Here's the latest tour info. They're in Oregon now and will play Montana and New York.

This just in: TL was just confirmed for an October date at the SF Jazz Festival!

Note: Two other TL CDs can be bought at LPM.

leave a comment

continue reading La Última

In the future we'll be reserving this space for global news, so please get into the habit of checking our new BAY AREA REPORT for local NoCal news. You can always see when it's been recently updated by looking under NEW STUFF-LO NUEVO to your right. We've been adding a lot of local sections lately. Bill Tilford's REPORT FROM CHICAGO has been especially active and contains information of interest to those outside of the Windy City as well.

leave a comment

continue reading La Última