Melón • del Puerto • Branly

The Pedrito Martínez Group concert at Kuumbwa last night was the best I've heard them - I keep waiting to come down to earth but every time I hear this band I'm further convinced that nothing else comes remotely close in terms of crystalizing and extending all of the innovations of the timba era. It's to the point that it's not timba anymore - it's the next generation of Cuban musical genius. It would need its own genre name except that no one else can play like this. Local hero Erick Barbería sat in twice and some truly amazing sparks flew. If you're in LA, trust me - you need to drop everything and go to The Echo on Thursday night. The opening act is Changüí del Guaso - led by changüisero extraordinaire and friend of timba.com Gabriel García .

Meanwhile, back en la Bahía - Melón will be here Monday night with Jimmy Branly and Carlitos del Puerto for a historic "Havana Reunion" show at Yoshi's SF - see below:

Havana Reunion at Yoshi's SF Monday, Dec. 16

This trio reunites three of the pivotal titans of the timba era who left the island and went on to conquer la Yuma as jazzistas: 

Iván "Melón" Lewis - arguably the greatest timba pianist based on his years with Issac Delgado - now tours regularly with megastar Buika (they play SF JAZZ from Dec. 12-15), won the Cubadisco award for his Latin jazz CD/DVD Travesía, and is of course the subject of four volumes of Beyond Salsa Piano.

Carlitos del Puerto, son of the Irakere founder, has played with nearly everyone: Chick Corea, Sting, Herbie Hancock, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder ... you get the idea.

Jimmy Branly played with Melón in Issac's band. Then, when Calixto Oviedo left for Europe, he took over as NG La Banda's drummer and is featured in Drumset Artists of Cuba by Chuck Silverman. Since moving to LA he's played with the likes of The Yellowjackets, Bryan Lynch, Ricky Martin, Gloria Estefan, Lyle Mays, Flora Purim, Tom Scott, Celia Cruz ... it would be easier to list those he hasn't played with.

More important than their success playing other types of music is the chemistry and cubanismo they can bring to the table when they're only in each others' company and have no need to rein in their creativity. I've heard Jimmy and Melón together in LA (and of course you can hear them on Issac's El año que viene), and Jimmy and Carlitos play together on many albums, but this will be the first time all three have played together since leaving Cuba. You can expect the kind of "Cuban ESP" produced by their shared experience in the one of the most explosive eras in Latin music history. See you there. [Kevin Moore]

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