Axel Tosca & Xiomara Laugart in the Bay Area

Axel Tosca

Tom Ehrlich was blown away by Thursday night's performance of the Axel Tosca Trio, featuring legendary Cuban vocalist Xiomara Laugart -- still at the peak of her powers -- with Yunior Terry on bass and Diego Ramírez on drums. Bandleader Axel Tosco, Xiomara's son, was the original pianist of the Pedrito Martínez Group.

There will be two shows per night, Friday through Sunday at the Black Cat Jazz Supper Club in San Francisco.

Xiomara Laugart

Recording with Pupy Pedroso (on his 1995 solo LP), Pablo Milanés, Yerba Buena, El Tosco of NG La Banda. and many others, Laugart established herself as one of the top vocalists of her generation before relocating to New York City, where she's had a long career, including playing the lead role in the off-Broadway production of Celia: The Life and Music of Celia Cruz.

Yunior Terry

Well known to timba.com readers, Yunior Terry is from the lengendary Cuban family that includes, Yosvany Terry, Don Eladio Terry, and Lydia Cabrera among others. He's played and recorded with just about everyone on the current Latin jazz scene.

Diego Ramírez

Diego Joaquín Ramírez is a rising star drummer, born in Ireland, of Guatamalan heritage and currently living in Brooklyn.

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domingo, 10 marzo 2024, 02:23 pm

Click on the photo for Tom Ehrlich's report and gallery.

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viernes, 01 diciembre 2023, 12:20 am

John Calloway on the Bay Area Scene

Two great new episodes of the leading Cuban music podcast:

Tom Ehrlich's photo of John Calloway from last month's Monterey Jazz Fest

Lani Milstein on Conga Santiaguera

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miércoles, 08 noviembre 2023, 09:42 pm

An especially exciting new episode, and hopefully the first of several with the great Ned Sublette, whose combination of knowledge about Cuban, Afro-North American, and African music puts him in a class of his own. This episode focuses on folkloric music. Here's Rebecca's description:

Rebecca speaks with musician/producer/historian Ned Sublette, author of the most comprehensive history of Cuban music in English, Cuba and Its Music: From the First Drums to the Mambo. Sublette is leading trips to Cuba through his organization, Postmambo, and in January will embark on La Ruta de los Fundamentos, a tour focusing on Afro-Cuban sacred sites in western Cuba (email postmambo@gmail.com for more info). We talk about the dense and entangled networks of Afro-Cuban religious practice and play a few fieldwork recordings from rural western Cuba.