Two time Grammy nominee Sammy Figueroa will be showcasing at the APAP convention on Friday 1/08/2009 at 12Midnight at Iridium Jazz Club in New York City.  Sammy wil be presenting his Cal Tjader inspired group called "Sally's Tomato."  Sammy played in a gala event at Arscht Center for Performing Arts in Miami on 12/04 in a concert produced by Larry Rosen titled "Jazz Roots - An Evening with Dave Grusin."  The concert also featured Jon Secada, Patti Austin, Gary Burton, Arturo Sandoval and Nestor Torres.

Latin Grammy nominated master Cuban pianist Chuchito Valdes, has been tearing it up at festivals all summer including the Detroit Jazz Festival, Lancaster Music Series, Oakville Jazz Fest, Daytona Beach International Festival and the Pensacola Jazz Festival.  He just completed a 3 day engagement at Latino Arts in Milwaukee where he conducted a number of clinics and a sold out grand performance to rave reviews. Chuchito was featured in a 3-disc CD with his father Chucho and his grandfather Bebo on "Dinastia Valdes" released by Sony this past April.

Click on "continue reading" below for video and tour dates...

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The first volume of my Beyond Salsa Piano series is now also available as a full color paperback book on amazon.com! Note that this is the book only. The audio files are only available at LPM, which also sells a digital-only version of the book for a reduced price.

I've updated the new status page accordingly.

Volume 2 will be available in digital format before Christmas and hard-copy in January (I hope - amazon is changing to a better system and I'm waiting for that before uploading more volumes).

In the meantime, here's the online version, which includes audio and notation for excerpts from the first 6 volumes.

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continue reading La Última

Jesús Díaz y su QBA will be at Sweet's Ballroom tonight for the first what what will hopefully be a steady string of Cuban music concerts at this classic (and massive) venue in downtown Oakland. The next event will be a rumba party with Sandy Pérez, Jesús Díaz and Erick Barbería Sunday night, from 7:00-11:00.

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Speaking of Charangueros, Tirso Duarte will begin his first tour of Colombia with a concert in Santander de Quilichao on December 24th, a great way to celebrate Christmas Eve.! Tirso & Proyecto K Libre will have 6 concerts in Colombia during the holiday season, culminating in a New Year's Day concert in Robles. Check Tirso's tour page for the complete list of concerts. And thanks to salsaproducciones for posting information about the tour in the Timba.com Forum.

Meanwhile in Havana Tirso is performing at Café Cantante today in a special concert with Pachito Alonso y Sus Kini Kini and Manolito y Su Trabuco. It breaks my heart to miss it!

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