Tom's Photos of Yoshi's 40th Anniversary

John Santos and the legendary Orestes Vilató with the John Santos Sextet

Tom's latest gallery features Leyder Chapman's Dos 4, with Colin Douglas on drums and the John Santos Sextet with Orestes Vilató, Kenny Washington and John Calloway.

The incredible timba conjunto, The Pedrito Martínez Group, will be at Yoshi's Oakland on Thursday, Sept. 20th and at the Monterey Jazz Festival Sept. 21st.

Book News: If you're into Afro-Cuban folkloric music, Luca Brandoli's 11 books and 7 CDs are truly amazing. Each book/CD volume teaches you about 50 songs, first with a bell so you know exactly where "1" is and then with an exquisitely recorded batá ensemble. The singing is sublime and the educational method is a godsend. The perfect combination.

As for me, I'm still slaving away at my book for non-musicians. It keeps getting longer so I can't even predict when I'll be done.

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Thursday, 06 September 2012, 04:24 AM

This is the final gallery from the 2012 SJ Jazz. Next up for the Bay Area is Pedrito Martínez at Yoshi's Oakland on September 20th

Sukary Valverde, Félix Samuel, Erick Barbería of Team Bahía

Book News: Don Skoog's Bata Drumming: The Oru Seco isn't new, but I was just re-reading it and it's Incredibly good. The first half is genuinely poetic history of AfroCuban folkloric music and the second half is a meticulous transcription of the Oru Seco.

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Monday, 03 September 2012, 02:28 PM

The long awaited second Havana d'Primera CD is on Amazon and iTunes all over the world. What are you waiting for?

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Sunday, 02 September 2012, 03:24 AM

Wayne Henderson

The penultimate installment of Tom's SJ Jazz series has a long list of bands including The Jazz Crusaders, Mazacote, Avance and Kat Parra. More coming soon.

BOOK NEWS: Jon Griffin, author of Tres Cubano, has published a volume of his Cuban Masters Series on the great pianist Emilio Morales, of Opus 13, Paulito FG and NG La Banda.