Afro Cuban Soul Rebels World Premiere

Several months ago, we did a few pieces about Dayramir González, the leader of the phenomenal Afro Cuban Jazz project Habana enTRANCE, which won a Cubadisco for their album of the same name.. Dayramir went on to study at Berklee College of Music and won their Wayne Shorter award for most outstanding Jazz composer in 2013. (You can see more of his resume as of 2013 here.) He is now resuming his performing career in earnest and has teamed up with Edrey aka Ogguere, also a Cubadisco winner, Jazz poet and a key member of Gilles Peterson's Havana Cultura, to lead The Afro Cuban Soul Rebels, a 9-piece ensemble that is about to release its first single (also called Afro Cuban Soul Rebels)

This writer has had his ears peeled for new things by Dayramir since first hearing Habana enTRANCE (which came out before he started writing reviews here.) Havana Cultura, Edrey aka Ogguere's associates, is also very impressive. The style of this new project will be different, but we think you'll want to check this out:

Key Links:
Concert info: SOBs, Thursday, July 10 The Afro Cuban Soul Rebels Facebook Page
Ogguere's website

thursday, 25 july 2024, 12:04 am

Conjunto Chappottín y Sus Estrellas Summer Tour

Conjunto Chappottin y Sus Estrellas is in the middle of a first-time-ever US tour. This legendary band dates to the Arsenio Rodriguez era and continues to defend that music with a powerful conjunto that includes 4 trumpets. Chicagoans can (and should, we might add) catch them tonight, July 14 at Martyrs' (the photos are from yesterday's excellent performance at the Square Roots Festival). The rest of the tour dates can be found here:

We'll have a lot more pictures and a full review later this week.

thursday, 25 july 2024, 12:04 am

(Courtesy of The Recording Academy/ photo by Kevin Winter, WireImage.com 2013)

One of the things that makes the music we write about here so wonderful is the fact that music education has played an important role in shaping the musicians as far back as the days of Cachao, who in addition to his revolutionary musical roles with the early Mambo and the later Descargas was a classically trained bassist who played with the Philharmonic. Bebo Valdés, whose passing we wrote about recently in this blog, was also trained in the Conservatory. Formal musical education which included classical training also helped nurture countless members of the new generation of musicians who have brought us Songo, Timba, Jazz etc.

In the United States, it isn't exactly a secret that music education in the schools has fallen on hard financial times, so we applaud any measures that help recognize and support its importance. The GRAMMY Foundation and The Recording Academy recently unveiled a new Music Educator Award, and the winner will be selected by a process that includes public participation in the US in nominating the candidates.

Many of our readers have children, nieces, nephews, grandchildren etc. that may or may not become members of the next generation of Jazz and Latin music performers depending upon the level of support and education that they receive from us and those who are teaching them how to sing and play. If you are in the United States and know of a music educator there who has made a difference in their lives, this is your chance to help them get more recognition for their efforts, and there is more than a plaque and a ceremony at stake for them – the winner, to be named in 2014, will also receive a $10,000.00 honorarium, and nine finalists will receive $1,000.00 each. (The funding for the awards is being supplied by the Ford Motor Company Fund.)

For more about the awards process, the rules, who is eligible, and how to nominate your choice (nominations are open until April 15), visit http://www.grammymusicteacher.com

thursday, 25 july 2024, 12:04 am

La Timba y Los Estados Unidos, Parte II: La Recepción Inicial de la Timba en los E.E.U.U
(Para leer este artículo en español oprima aquí)

If musical merit was the only ingredient necessary for mass popularity in the United States, Timba would have quickly taken the country by storm the same way that the Mambo did years earlier. However, that is not enough, as many Jazz musicians have also learned the hard way over the years. An infrastructure to support the music is also required for any genre to reach large numbers of listeners, and that was not in place for Timba when its sounds first reached the United States. In order to fully understand the reasons for this, we first need to briefly revisit the three decades prior to Timba’s emergence as a distinct style.

In the 1960s, there was no significant ongoing cultural exchange between the United States and Cuba. This does not mean that there was no exchange of ideas of any sort - musicians both here and there were listening to each other by various means, and radio enthusiasts such as this writer were keeping up with what was happening in Cuban music via shortwave stations such as Radio Habana Cuba, Radio Rebelde etc. However, most of the general American public remained....click "continue reading" below for the full article