Get ready for the New Explosion! Elito Reve arrives in the US on Sunday followed by su Charangón on Thursday July 8th. The band will hold its first concert on July 9. And all you charangoneros will be thrilled to hear that the tour will be extended to one month! This information comes directly from Elito Revé himself! We are obviously lacking most of the concert dates so send me an e-mail with any missing dates you know about and I will update their tour page.

The band is in the process of releasing their new CD "¿De que estamos hablando?". I have heard the entire CD and it is likely to be the best of 2010. The band is already performing several of the songs live. For the latest scoop on what you can expect in concert see Gabriel's post at Yemayá's Verse about her carnaval trip with the Charangón.

The charangón has a few new members since I saw them last. Among the singers we now have Emilio who you know from Tumbao Habana and Suzel who was with Sello L.A. Additionally there is now a full-time keyboardist, Gretchen Revé. On the new album Emilio sings lead om "Niña relájate", "La Nueva Explosión", "A Matanzas" (a tasty guaguancó), and the hit "Agua pa' Yemayá". Suzel sings lead on the son montuno remake of "Ya sé bailar, ya sé cantar". Sinsonte interprets the funny song "Open the door" and there is a real changüí with invitados Pipi de Yateras y sus Estrellas Campesinas, Chucho Valdés and Cotó. The rest of the album is expertly handled by veteran vocalist Dagoberto. You have a lot to look forward to at the upcoming US concerts. For Cuban music fans and salseros this is another must not miss tour! 

¿De que estamos hablando? Ya tú verás!!

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Video killed the radio star.

MP3s killed the CD.

DJs killed live music.

But then again, there's DJ Walt Digz - the DJ musicians love because he always plays the tracks they didn't even know they needed to hear yet ... the DJ who's put together a LIVE, real, timba band with the very cream of the cream of the real musicians of the Bay Area scene - Carlos Caro, Colin Douglas, Marco Díaz, Ayla Dávila, Jason Möen, Erick Barbería, Orlando Torriente ... the list goes on ... the best person in every chair. We'll have a section for them soon, but their first big show is this Saturday, at Jelly's, Saturday, July 3rd.

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Philly, NY and Pittsburgh next. Here's the full schedule. Tom and I will cover the Napa gig on July 17th. Among the many luminaries will be Calixto Oviedo on timbales and Gabriel Hernández on piano.

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23:0 horas at Clamores in Madrid - Lunes - 28 de junio

Melón celebrates the long-awaited release of Travesía, a fresh new take on Latin jazz featuring sax luminary Román Filiú and ex-Pupy bassist "El Negrón" Elizarde. Negrón is out of the country, but not to worry, Melón's old partner from the Issac band, genius bassist Alain Pérez, will be playing at Clamores .

Melón is also coming to the US in fall with Buika and will hopefully fit in some solo gigs and clinics. Meanwhile, Volume 9 of Beyond Salsa Piano , the fourth and final volume on Melón, will be done soon. It will include the songs from Exclusivo para Cuba as well as various unreleased masterpieces like La temática and La competencia, as well as some of his work with Manolín and some of the tumbaos from his Latin jazz originals. Stay tuned.

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