Calixto Heating Up the LA Scene

Lily D. Oviedo y su Orchestra play Nov. 8th, 14th and 20th at La Floridita, Tía Juana's and M Bar - full details on the Tours page.

... and if any major city needs some heating up, it's LA. I can say this because I was born and raised there: Los Angeles sucks - sorry Kay, Gloria, Bob & Paul - the truth hurts. Only Miami surpasses LA for its sheer quantity of unappreciated talent. But don't jump off of City Hall just yet - where there's an Oviedo, there's hope - and there are two of them in Smogville now.

Calixto (of NG La Banda, Pacho Alonso, Adalberto Álvarez and of course Beyond Salsa fame) has put together a super-tight band featuring his talented wife Lily. They tore it up at SJ Jazz this year and now they're starting to play regularly in the LA scene (I use the term "scene" advisedly).

Then, on December 4th, a new incarnation of The Arsenio Rodríguez Project. Here are some photos from their last tour. But this new band - while it lacks the two New York studs - has a lineup that makes me want to do the 6-hour drive and brave the smoggy Southland. Calixto on drums, the great Rigoberto López (of Opus 13 and Adalberto) on bass, changüí master Gabriel García on tres, Alberto Salas on piano (this guy is great), and vocalist Perico Hernández - as close as we're likely to get to Cuní and Scull among the living. This is really a must-see concert. [Kevin Moore]

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lunes, 03 noviembre 2014, 05:09 pm

Another great gallery from another great recent show. Mezcla and Klímax galleries coming next.

News: Juan Carlos Formell becomes the full-time bassist of Los Van Van. Possible US tour in 2015.

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viernes, 24 octubre 2014, 02:02 am

(above: Harold López-Nussa) Click here for Tom's final gallery from this year's Monterey Jazz Festival. Afro-Cuban All Stars is next, then Klímax.

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miércoles, 22 octubre 2014, 05:25 pm

It turns out Klímax conguero Julio López is also a tremendous rumbero - photos by Tom Ehrlich

Klímax's debut Northern California tour is ending all too soon. In many ways they're playing an even tighter and more aggressive form of timba than they did in the 1990s. The percussion section - together for 15 years now - is absurdly tight, even by Havana standards, and the metales are by far the cleanest, most powerful and most in-tune trumpet-sax section since Los Metales de Terror. Vocal harmonies sublime and great dance routines - although Julio López overshadowed everything with his multi-part rumba-changó tour de force performance, with local hero Christian Pepín covering the congas.

Don't miss tonight - the Giants game will be over by the time they hit at 8:00 and Yoshi's has a nice screen in the lobby.

Click continue reading for more photos.