If you haven't seen this yet -- check it out! Alain talks about his musical evolution and plays some solo bass. At the end of the segment he engages the house band for a surprising jam session -- one where he plays almiost ALL the instruments ... timbales, congas, piano and sings. Talk about SUPERCUBANO. Check out Beyond Salsa Bass for more info on Alain.

New Manolín release "Tiene Que Ser Manolín" - We've been featuring the title track for many months now on Radio Timba (currently #17), but now it's official....16 tracks under the Xplosion Entertainment. Click here to check it out on iTunes.

1 Mi Desastre
2 Así De Fácil
3 No Quiero Saber De Amores
4 Me Encanta Esa Niña
5 Me Gustas Un Montón
6 Tengo Un Amigo (feat. El Mola)
7 Yo Soy Tu DJ
8 Se La Voy a Regalar
9 Yo Me Enteré En Facebook
10 De Tarea Pa’ La Casa
11 Cubaneando (feat. El Haka)
12 Mi Guaguancó Manolín
13 Tiene Que Ser Manolín
14 Mi Desastre 
15 Así De Fácil 
16 No Quiero Saber De Amores

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Yes it's really happening this time - ALL RIGHT !! Hot off the twitter press....Team Cuba is in Miami and they will appera on the Alexis Valdés show tonight. Check oput his latest twitter posts below. Next stop is the NYC Timba Mega Concert...

Latin Jazz category reinstated in the the Grammy Awards - Last year the Recording Academy consolidated categories, from 109 to 78, with Latin Jazz among the ones affected (though it remained in the Latin Grammys). Four latin jazz artists - Bobby Sanabria, Mark Levine, Ben Lapidus and Eugene Marlow - responded to the change by filing a class action lawsuit, which was later dismissed by the courts. Protests and online aggravation also ensued. It is this writer's opinion that inroads partly began when Mark Levine simply wrote a letter to the Academy stating his displeasure and actually returned his Grammy awards, proving that it's value is squarely in the eye of the beholding artists. Categories in Classical, R&B and Urban Contemporary music were also reinstated. Bottom line is that it's a victory to enjoy for all.

Orquesta La Bohemia takes a stab at timba - Switzerland's romantic salsa mainstayers release a timba track under the musical direction of Celia Cruz's conguero Luisito Aballe. On vocals is Josbel Rodríguez under the general direction of Cristian González. We welcome the change Cristian! Check out "Mujer del otro" on Radio Timba now.

Changuito Master Classes & Concerts in Spain - La Fundación Robert A. Paneque presentará en España un histórico taller, clase magistral y concierto de congas, timbales y batería con el legendario percusionista cubano José Luis Quintana Fuertes (Changuito), considerado hoy día el percusionista cubano más grande y más  influyente del mundo y el músico cubano más imitado de todos los tiempos, conocido mundialmente por ser el creador del songo, el ritmo que ha llevado a la cumbre a Los Van Van. Ha sido ganador de tres Premios Grammy en cuatro nominaciones. Se le conoce mundialmente como El Rey del Timbal.

Para más información oprima aquí o a la foto arriba para descragar la ficha técnica y toda fecha de la gira de Changuito en España. 

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Jerry González on timbales - Alain Pérez - photo by Tom Ehrlich

Last week's consolation prize for the postponed timba mega-concert was a scorching hot Alain Pérez performance at Zinc Bar with pianist Manuel Valera (see Bill Tilford's post below on Manuel's  new album), Robby Ameen on drums, and Fort Apache legend Jerry González on trumpet and percussion. Click here for Tom's full gallery.

Tom has video coming soon and Martin Cohen has already posted three great clips.

And if you missed it, I've recently published the second book-eBook-audio-video set for Alain - Beyond Salsa Bass, Vol. 7, and the corresponding Melón piano video. [Kevin Moore]

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A few weeks ago, we mentioned that some really astounding Jazz recordings were coming out this year.  New Cuban Express is one of them, and it's a masterpiece.    If you dug GES, Emiliano Salvador, Irakere, Afrocuba etc. back in the day, this new project is the next step forward from those beginnings, and it will bowl you over.     (If you have no idea who those other groups are, you have been ignoring some of the best music in our solar system.)  This recording is about to hit the streets this week, but there is already a lot of buzz about it for good reason.  Read the review, which includes links to sound samples, here...

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