Chicago Gets Its Clave On

The next three weeks are a great time for both Jazz and dance music in Chicago.

First up, tonight (Sunday, July 14) Hector Silveira brings some seriously good Salsa Cubana (the modern kind) to the 39th Annual Arts and Crafts Festival at the Dusable Museum of African American History, 740 E. 56th Place, Chicago. There is also other entertainment throughout the day, and this group hits at 7pm. Hector fronts one of Chicago's best dance bands, but he also carefully rations his performances, so catch him while you can.

Next, on Friday and Saturday, July 19-20, the 7th Chicago Latin Jazz Festival at the Humboldt Park Boathouse, 1359 N. Sacramento Av in Chicago brings Jane Bunnett, Hilario Duran and Candido Camero to perform together in trio on Friday and Bobby Sanabria's Quarteto Ache on Saturday. Hilario is a phenomenal Cuban pianist who is now based in Toronto; Candido, who is now 92 years old, is one of the giants of the music, and Jane, also based in Canada, began doing cooperative recordings with musicians in Cuba over two decades ago. New Yorker Bobby Sanabria just came off his 7th GRAMMY nomination. For the complete schedule, click here.

TImbalive to join Festival Cubano lineup: Festival Cubano (August 2-4, Riis Park, Chicago) now has Timbalive on the bill for the final day in place of Manolin. Buy your tickets now for a discount at Festival Cubano's website.

| Share

Sunday, 07 July 2013, 04:55 AM

Mezcla gave a very successful performance at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago on June 29, 2013. Kudos to the OTS for its continued leadership role in presenting this music in Chicago. For a photo gallery and review of the concert, click here.

If you weren't at their California, Colorado or Chicago concerts, there is still a way for you to connect with the experience. The group has set up a Kickstarter page to help defray some of the expenses of the tour (yes, this is an unusual step for a band from Cuba, but this was largely a "do-it-yourself" tour on their part), and as is the case with Kickstarter generally, some interesting premiums are being offered for different levels of support. The page will be active until July 22, so visit now if you are a fan of Mezcla.
Click here for Mezcla's Kickstarter page, which includes a video.

| Share

Tuesday, 02 July 2013, 08:20 AM

Hemos inaugurado una nueva sección sobre Colibrí y sus nuevos lanzamientos, que se puede visitar aquí.

Cuba's recording industry has diversified rather dramatically during the past two decades, and one of the most fascinating new companies is Colibrí, which celebrates its tenth anniversary this year by (among other things) receiving the largest number of awards (including the Grand Prize) at Cubadisco 2013. We are following them with great interest because they are attracting artists like Klimax, Havana d'Primera and Ernán López-Nussa.

We have inaugurated a new section about Colibrí and its new releases, which you can visit here.

La industria de la grabación en Cuba se ha diversificado muy dramáticamente durante las últimas dos décadas, y una de las nuevas empresas más fascinantes es Colibrí, que celebra su décimo aniversario este año recibiendo la mayor cantidad de premios (incluyendo el Gran Premio) en Cubadisco 2013. Los estamos siguiendo con gran interés porque están atrayendo a artistas y grupos como Klimax, Havana d'Primera y Ernán López-Nussa.

| Share

Sunday, 30 June 2013, 10:36 PM

Border-Free, the sensational new album by Chucho Valdés & The Afro-Cuban Messengers, can now be heard on NPR's wonderful program First Listen. This innovative concept lets you try before you buy; you can listen to the album -not just a few seconds here and there, but the actual album - on NPR before it is formally released to the US market, and then if you purchase it through the program's links, a portion of the proceeds helps National Public Radio. This is good for all of us because the overwhelming majority of the radio programs that will play modern Cuban Jazz, Timba and other current Cuban music are on stations that are affiliated with National Public Radio. (See our album reviews in English and en español ,)
You can hear NPR's First Listen on the web here.

The rest of radio isn't always a wasteland all the time, however: in March 2013, CNN radio's Music Notes did a very nice interview in English of Yosvany Terry and Gema Corredera about their recent releases Derramando Luz and Today's Opinion , and you can listen to it here.