Horns to Havana and Other Good Things

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...

Item III:  Maraca Interview by Laura Sosa 

When Maraca was in DC earlier this year, he sat for an interview with Laura Sosa, who brought the interview (and her channel with 90+ videos) to our attention:

Laura does very nice work (if she had a clone, I could use her here in Chicago...) and also promotes live music in the DC area.  As more bands pass through DC on tour, we'll probably be seeing more of her videos.  Her website is www.dclivemusic.com , and her Youtube channel is also dclivemusic
Incidentally, Maraca's latest jazz CD, Reencuentros, of which we did a review earlier this year,  was also recently chosen as a Downbeat Editors' Pick.  Can we pick 'em, or what?

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Omar's Tour Dates

Timbera Mayor (Michelle White) has posted Omar's tour dates in the Giras section. Thanks Michelle.

Posted by: Bill Tilford on Saturday, 01 October 2011, 02:54 AM