Tiempo Libre really tore it up in Santa Cruz last night! Ultra-agressive timba in the extreme. Pututi III is incredible and the whole club, even by Kuumbwa standards, was absolutely on fire. The bassist Tebelio was also insanely good tonight. Make it to the clinic on Saturday and the concert on Sunday if you can. It's not obvious from this photo, but from a straight-on view, the new trumpet player, (who was also the founding trumpet player), Raúl Rodríguez, is a dead ringer for Paul Shaffer.

Click here for Tom's gallery - more coming.

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Fans are eagerly awaiting the new Azúcar Negra CD "Se acabó el pescao" hoping it will be out in time for their holiday shopping. Limonta tells us that he will be able to give us a release date very shortly. He is leaving for Mexico at the end of this month and plans to take the CD with him. So if all goes as planned we may be able to buy it by the end of October! Stay tuned for more!

In the meantime, Limonta has released a demo CD titled "Salsa y mucho más". It is available at iTunes in Europe, Canada, USA, Japan and Mexico as well as Amazon and Emusic(usa). So while you wait for the new CD, you can get yourself a fix of Azúcar Negra.

Track List:
La mala de la película
Qué risa me da
Identidad
Así somos
Lo tuyo no tiene nombre
La pasamos bien
Amor por Internet
Mi barrio

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Last weekend at the incredible Yerba Buena free concert series, the John Santos Sextet opened for, and then sat in with, the Pedrito Martínez Group. Yerba Buena is trying to increase their Facebook friend list to help in their latest grant project - please follow the link and support this great free concert series.

            ***click here for full gallery***

Pedrito's group has a completely new and absolutely brilliant approach to timba! It's like a timba conjunto - congas, bongó, piano, bass, and for gigs like this one, they add Román Díaz playing 3 batás, and two  horns. The need for a kick drum is covered by the thumps of the electric bass and a large, miked cajón that Pedrito sits on as he plays congas.

Like Arsenio's or Chappottín's conjuntos, the only metal percussion is the bongosero's bell, so the overall volume level is much lower, allowing the nuances of the exquisite vocal harmonies and hand percussion to come through much more clearly, but without sacrificing any of the intensity. The music and arrangements are pure, creative, original timba - ALL timba - no smorgasbord of danzón, reguetón and chachachá filler tracks - every single song has gear changes, melodic cuerpos, great coros and mambos, funky, song-specific piano tumbaos, world-class lead vocals by Pedrito and Ariacne, and the best 3- and 4-part coros I've heard from any timba band.

Pedrito says they're going into the studio in October. Go see this band at Guantanamera if you're in New York and ask your local clubs to book them - this is the most excited I've been about a new timba band since HdP. [Kevin Moore]

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Item I:  Horns to Havana

Jazztimes.com, the free online extension of Jazztimes magazine, is now carrying an interesting section dedicated to Cuba.  The most recent article by Lee Mergner about the Horns to Havana program, in which jazz artists from up here are going down to the island to donate instruments and do workshops, is an especially interesting read.  The link is http://jazztimes.com/sections/cuba/articles  But we mention this for another reason as well.  Those of you working with jazz groups should consider joining the online community if you haven't already done so.  It's another place with a focused jazz audience that you can talk about the group, any recordings etc.   As anyone involved with jazz these days knows, there's no such thing as too much promotion...

Item II:  Omar Sosa's Recordings Recognized

Earlier this year in the Report From Chicago section, we did a piece on Omar Sosa and a capsule review of three of his recent recordings, Afreecanos, Ceremony and Calma.  Since that time, Ceremony won an Echo, a prestigious European jazz award, and Calma has been nominated for a Latin Grammy in the Instrumental department. Congratulations Omar.  He's doing a short tour of the US in late October-early November, and we'll have those details soon.  Here's a short video about Ceremony...

....click here to read the full article with Maraca's interview >>

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