Mala maña is a brilliant new arrangement from PMG's new pianist Edgar Pantoja:

Tom also filmed Pedrito's unaccompanied conga tour de force at the Santa Cruz show:

And here's the first installment of photos from PMO's soundcheck at Stern Grove:

                                     Braulio Barrera and Omar Ledezma of Pacific Mambo Orchestra

More PMO photos (from the concert itself) will be posted later this week.

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continue reading La Última

ENGLISH:  On Tuesday, June 30th, The Afro Cuban Jazz Edition will run an interview in English of Ernán López-Nussa (seen here at the Cubadisco 2015 awards ceremony holding the latest of a growing collection of prizes) that Bill Tilford did with him last month in Havana. The program will also feature music from his latest album, Invencíon Lekszycki (you can read our review here), which won the Cubadisco for Jazz Cubano this year.  The Afro Cuban Jazz Edition runs from 1400-1600 UTC (10am-Noon Eastern in the US) on WSLR, and you can stream it here or listen on-demand for two weeks following the show. 
More CD Reviews:  See the Reviews section for some new reviews of CDs. 
ESPAÑOL: El martes, 30 de junio,  The Afro Cuban Jazz Edition pondrá una entrevista en Inglés de Ernán López-Nussa (visto aquí en la premiación Cubadisco 2015 con su último premio en una creciente colección) que Bill Tilford hizo con él  última mes en La Habana. El programa también contará con la música de su último disco, Invención Lekszycki (puede leer nuestra reseña aquí), que ganó el Cubadisco para Jazz Cubano  este año.The Afro Cuban Jazz Edición se transmite desde 1400-1600 UTC (10am-mediodía hora del Este en los EE.UU.) en WSLR, y se puede sintonizar el programa aquí; también  puede escucharlo en demanda durante las dos semanas después.
Mas reseñas de CD: Vea la sección Reseñas para más nuevas reseñas de CD.

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continue reading Sin Clave No Hay Na

The long-awaited date has finally arrived! Emilio Frias "El Niño" y La Verdad celebrate their 2nd Anniversary at Salon Rosado de la Tropical Benny Moré with the great José Alberto "El Canario" . Other guest artists include Manolito Simonet , Alexander Abreu , Septeto Santiaguero and Osain del Monte .

El Canario arrived Thursday and has been rehearsing with the band since then, so get ready for an amazing concert! I can't tell you how much it hurts that I was not in Havana this weekend. Tonight is also the final concert of three for the presentation of "Soy" - Buena Fe's new album at Karl Marx Theater. But more on that later.

Below you can enjoy a clip from rehearsal uploaded by Emilio to facebook yesterday. To all the timberos in Havana - enjoy the concert! To El Niño y La Verdad - happy anniversary!

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continue reading Timbera Mayor

Now that Miami practically has a commuter culture of bands from Cuba coming up to play festivals and concerts without serious incidents, cultural events in cities like Chicago have been long overdue to catch up.  Therefore, it is a great pleasure to share the news from today's press conference held by the organizers of Chicago's Festival Cubano at the 90 Miles Cafe:  the performance lineup for the final day of the festival will include Pedrito Calvo and Miguelito Cuni Jr.    Pedrito sang for years with Los Van Van before starting his own band, La Nueva Justicia ,  As for Miguelito Cuni Jr ., he has been performing with Conjunto Chappottin.
The lineup also includes José Alberto "El Canario" .  It would have been even better to see him with Septeto Santiaguero , with whom he recently released No Quiero Llanto , but it is still nice to see him on the bill.  
Congratulations to Festival Cubano for finally crossing the bridge.  I'm  already looking forward to next year when the conversations will progress to which are the most worthy acts from Cuba rather than whether it''s time to start bringing some.  In the meantime, I look forward to Pedrito and Miguelito.
This is the sixth edition of Festival Cubano, and advance discounted tickets are now available at
www.thecubanfestival.com. 
You can see some pictures from the press conference in the Report From Chicago entry for July 23. 

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continue reading Sin Clave No Hay Na