The bad news is that the Bamboleo US Tour is canceled. The good news is that Tom Ehrlich has finished his mega-gallery on all three Mayito Rivera appearances. And of course don't forget to check out Mayito's Tribute to Juan Formell.

BOOK NEWS: my long-awaited (by me, anyway) 440-page history of Puerto Rico, NY and pre-timba Cuba is finally out in hard-copy. The audio and eBook are coming soon. Also, Rebecca Cline's Latin Jazz piano method book is out and it's excellent. [Kevin Moore]

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** Updated with Adalberto's official statement on Facebook
If you have more details please add them to the COMMENTS section. Here's Roccapulco's site, saying tonight's show is cancelled.

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photo by Tom, Erhlich • 2010 • Yoshi's, San Francisco

Last night we lost the most important Cuban musician since Arsenio Rodríguez. 

A few hours before getting this horrible news Orlando Fiol and I were working out the chord changes to a string of Juan Formell songs and marveling at his endless creativity. The track below, from 1996, is typical of Formell's best work - running the full range of emotions, starting with melancholy and building slowly and relentlessly through a series of higher and higher climaxes.

A handful of the greatest musicians are able to spend a few years in that magical zone where one brilliant idea flows out of the last and each connects directly with the hearts of their public. Juan Formell stepped into that zone with Aquí se enciende la candela in 1970 and stayed there for as long as he stayed on this earth. 

Among countless awards, Formell won the Grammy in 1999 for Llegó Van Van and the Grammy Latino a la Excelencia in 2013. He also composed the top two songs in our "greatest timba song of all-time" poll - Soy todo and Te pone la cabeza mala. I clearly recall counting the votes and it was not remotely close. But for every towering hit that you know by heart there's another - just as great - that you may not have discovered: Barriste con el, No somos de la gran escena, Quién no ha dicho una mentira, Ponte para las cosas, Pero a mi manera, Si tú te vas, Mis dudas, Me basta con pensar, Tú tranquilo ... we've lost the man, but his music will last forever.

Formell's death caps one of the most tragic two-week periods in memory, with the losses of Armando Peraza, Cheo Feliciano, Chuck Silverman, and Gabriel García Márquez.

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Pianist Jorge Luis Pacheco will be at Piedmont Piano for two shows Saturday and will be sitting in with Rumbaché and Walt Digz at the Cigar Bar tomorrow night.

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