The 4th annual Festival Cubano, a 3-day celebration of Cuban music, will take place on August 2-4 in Riis Park in Chicago. The band roster this year has a really nice mix of local and out of town acts - some of Saturday's highlights include Xiomara Laugart and Alfredo de la Fe (the closing act that night is Salsero Jerry Rivera ). Sunday packs a wallop with Charangueo, Mambo Fino, Hector Silveira y su Orquesta, and Sureya followed by the Cachao Mambo All Stars.  Timbalive, which was nominated for a Cubadisco award in 2012, a rare honor for a dance band in the United States, closes the festival. For tickets and the complete schedule for this don't-miss event visit thecubanfestival.com

In Los Angeles, on Saturday August 3 at Vitello's, the AC Jazz Project is having a pre-release party featuring material from its new CD Conga Buena, which is due for release in September.  This band is led by trumpeter Josiel Pérez, who played with Maraca's band and Klimax in Cuba, and it brings together a formidable team of musicians (some of them cut their teeth in NG la Banda, Grupo Afrocuba and Opus 13, and percussion monster Luis Conte is the featured conguero). This writer has heard the tracks from the new recording, a potent mix of Jazz and Música Popular Bailable, and it is going to turn some heads when it comes out. For more information, see vitellosjazz.com

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The latest from Ivan Llanes' group in New York...

Also, another New Cuban Express album, Expectativas, is due for release on September 3rd. This writer has heard the tracks, and this is even deeper than the first New Cuban Express recording, the self-titled, GRAMMY-nominated album by Manuel Valera's group. If you are into Latin Jazz (or any kind of Jazz, really), this will be an essential acquisition for you when it comes out. In the meantime, those of you on the East Coast can see most of the group (Joel Frahm is subbing for Yosvany Terry, but do NOT let that stop you for a second) performing at the following locations over the course of the weekend:

July 26-27:  Bohemian Caverns in Washington, DC
July 28: An Die Musik in Baltimore, MD
July 29: Hartford Jazz Society in Hartford, CT

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In 2007, Cinquillo (Colibri's main label for modern music) released a truly remarkable debut recording by young Cuban composer and pianist Dayramir González titled  Dayramir & Habana enTRANCe. It justifiably won three Cubadisco awards that year for Best Debut Album, Best Jazz Album and Best Engineered Recording. In an alternate timeline, he would have cranked out a series of recordings that would have put him front and center of those of us who follow Jazz and Fusion, but he chose instead to continue his studies including most recently at Berklee, where he was the first Cuban national to receive a full scholarship. 

Dayramir will be in California until August, and those of you in or near Los Angeles can check him out on Sunday, July 21 at the Catalina Bar and Grill:

Click here for his full bio, which is already impressive.  Here's a promotional video to give you a taste of what they are about:

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The next three weeks are a great time for both Jazz and dance music in Chicago.

First up, tonight (Sunday, July 14) Hector Silveira brings some seriously good Salsa Cubana (the modern kind) to the 39th Annual Arts and Crafts Festival at the Dusable Museum of African American History, 740 E. 56th Place, Chicago. There is also other entertainment throughout the day, and this group hits at 7pm.   Hector fronts one of Chicago's best dance bands, but he also carefully rations his performances, so catch him while you can. 

Next, on Friday and Saturday, July 19-20, the 7th Chicago Latin Jazz Festival at the Humboldt Park Boathouse, 1359 N. Sacramento Av in Chicago brings Jane Bunnett, Hilario Duran and Candido Camero to perform together in trio on Friday and Bobby Sanabria's Quarteto Ache on Saturday. Hilario is a phenomenal Cuban pianist who is now based in Toronto; Candido, who is now 92 years old, is one of the giants of the music, and Jane, also based in Canada, began doing cooperative recordings with musicians in Cuba over two decades ago. New Yorker Bobby Sanabria just came off his 7th GRAMMY nomination.   For the complete schedule, click here. 

TImbalive to join Festival Cubano lineup:   Festival Cubano (August 2-4, Riis Park, Chicago) now has Timbalive on the bill for the final day in place of Manolin.   Buy your tickets now for a discount at Festival Cubano's website. 

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