29 December 2013:

Happy New Year! Just returned from Havana, Cuba, and the Sin Clave No Hay Na' blog will be full of goodies (CDs and DVDs are legal to bring back) starting next month as a result of that trip. In the meantime, although we like to focus on live music, we also realize that Rueda dancing is helpful to promoting interest in the music.  4 Fantastic Events has been doing a Friday night session at Dylan's,  118 S. Clinton, that includes free Rueda dance lessons from 9-10pm followed by DJ music the rest of the night.   There are some regular live Salsa options for NYE - check out our Events & Reviews page for more information. 

15 December 2013:

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 15:
PAQUITO D'RIVERA STRING QUARTET
Mayne Stage

This is Paquito in classical mode, where he has distinguished himself almost as much as he has in the Jazz world.  The Kaia String Quartet includes Ernie Adams, Larry Gray and Rick Ferguson.   Unless you have some strange music allergy, this is highly recommended. Incidentally, Paquito just received a GRAMMY® nomination in the Latin Jazz category for his work with another group, Trio Corriente, in the Brasilian Jazz recording Song For Maura. 

Charanga fans should note that Chicago's only full Charanga ensemble, Charangueo, is at Las Tablas Friday the 20th.  See Events &  Reviews for more information. 

Report From Chicago will be taking a little holiday break - see you in 2 weeks, and happy holidays if you are celebrating any.  

7 December 2013:

COMING SUNDAY, DECEMBER 15:
PAQUITO D'RIVERA STRING QUARTET
Mayne Stage

This is Paquito in classical mode, where he has distinguished himself almost as much as he has in the Jazz world.  The Kaia String Quartet includes Ernie Adams, Larry Gray and Rick Ferguson.   Unless you have some strange music allergy, this is highly recommended. Incidentally, Paquito just received a GRAMMY® nomination in the Latin Jazz category for his work with another group, Trio Corriente, in the Brasilian Jazz recording Song For Maura. 

FIFTH ANNUAL FESTIVAL CUBANO DATES SET

Mark your 2014 calendars for the 5th Annual Festival Cubano, to be held from Friday-Sunday, August 1-3, 2014.   This event has been getting consistently bigger and better every year.   I am going to throw out one public suggestion this time to see whether it gets any traction, and it's on the food side. Participation by the area's Cuban food vendors has always been lighter than hoped for by everyone's account.  If licensing, liability, etc. would permit, why not have a contest one day (Friday evening or Sunday afternoon?)  with a judged contest to see who can make the best ______ (ropa vieja maybe? There are other possibilities, but this is the one that would be closest to chili or goulash) and invite both the restaurants and amateurs to participate?  This would of course be in addition to the regular food vendors, so it would need their consent as well, but if done during a period that isn't Prime Time for them, it could work   Make that two suggestions.  A dance contest might be fun as well...

CHICAGO INTERNATIONAL SALSA CONGRESS CONSIDERING A CUBAN NIGHT


At this writing, the CISC is studying the viability of a Cuban night to be included as part of its 13th Congress in February 2014.   Given the highly variable attendance at Cuban music events in the area over the past few years, this isn't a slam dunk, but we are encouraged to see that they are at least actively considering the idea, and we hope that something viable and worthwhile emerges.  Stay tuned. 

1 December 2013:

The Charanga Habanera Louisville engagement that the promoter had been floating about earlier has evaporated as anticipated.  This is unfortunate, but Midwesterners should not despair, there are still groups that really do come into the area, and the promoter in question, who shall remain nameless this time, is publicly advised that posting Louisville (or other Midwestern cities for that matter) without a solid booking in back of it only makes things more difficult for those who do have solid dates to draw audiences, and that is not good for the music.The Midwest is no place for amateur operators, especially when they are working with bands as prominent as this one. 

COMING SUNDAY, DECEMBER 15:
PAQUITO D'RIVERA STRING QUARTET
Mayne Stage

This is Paquito in classical mode, where he has distinguished himself almost as much as he has in the Jazz world.  The Kaia String Quartet includes Ernie Adams, Larry Gray and Rick Ferguson.   Unless you have some strange music allergy, this is highly recommended. 

24 November 2013:

Charanga Habanera just performed in New York at SOBs, and a colleague will be reviewing that soon, but as of today, there has still been no actual announcement of a specific venue in Louisville even though their US tour manager had included the city on his official list (a practice which has my extreme disapproval because it breeds cynicism in the cities that are affected). My advice to anyone who was contemplating long-distance travel for that would be not to make any non-refundable plans. At this point, its status can be most charitably described as doubtful.

On the other hand, Orquesta Aragón has been booked by Sound Culture to play the Mayne Stage in Chicago on April 18, 2014.  Yes, that's a ways off, but at least it's a real date. 

17 November 2013:

SPECIAL STORM CHASERS EDITION:

Many of this page's visitors were ducking tornadoes, hail, thunderstorms and flash floods today piled on the insult of an early snow shower earlier in the week, this too shall pass.   We checked out a couple of things this week:

1.  Angelo Prieto's  4 Fantastic Events included a Rueda lesson at their Tuesday night event at the Alhambra Palace.   Angelo tells us that there has also been some Rueda at their event at Dylan's on Friday nights.   The Rueda scene in the Chicago-Milwaukee corridor has had its up and downs these last few years, and it would be nice if it would take root somewhere in some form.   It is, after all, the very opposite of the meat market atmosphere that keeps some people away from some types of social dancing.

2.  The first official kick-off party for the 2014 Chicago International Salsa Congress went down at the Club Mambo on Saturday night.  You can read more and see our gallery here. 

10 November 2013:

THIS WEEK:

6 November 2013

The Pacific Mambo Orchestra was great fun over in Gary Indiana and may be a sign that Chicago and Gary should get to know each other better, musically speaking.  Read about thathere

Coming up:

27 October, 2013

And now for something completely different: 

Appalatin (Latin/Appalachia Roots) plays in Chicago

DOCKtoberFest Chicago
River South neighborhood next to River City Marina
200 W. Polk at 800 S. Wells Street
Saturday, Oct 26, 5:15–6:15
Sunday,   Oct 27 4:45-5:45   

Rather than try to explain this in 25 words or less, I will let you read their press release, which is here.   Yes, it's a fusion with Cumbia and Quecha music, not Cuban, but still sounds interesting. 

20 October, 2013

We're on vacation this week, but check out the Calendar of Events for what's happening. 

13 October, 2013

THIS WEEK:  Chevere at The Green Mill, Friday and Saturday, October 18-19.  They may not come out to play that often, but when they do, this Latin Jazz powerhouse is worth checking out. 

COMING SOON:  The Pacific Mambo Orchestra is coming to Carmel, Indiana on October 25 and Gary, Indiana on October 26.  Full details next week.   This is an exciting mambo big band with a CD by the same name that was released late last year.  You can read a review of that CD here.   As happens all too frequently with large touring ensembles, this one won't be coming into the city of Chicago itself.  

6 October, 2013

Rubén Alvarez, in addition to performing with Chevere and several other groups (he also turned up on Chuchito Valdés' recording done live at the Mayne Stage), is grooming a new generation of musicians with the Roosevelt Latin jazz Ensemble, which was featured at the 35th Chicago Jazz Festival this year. Chicago's Channel 7 included a clip of them in its Ñ Beat series on September 28 and 29..... 
To see the video clip from September 28, click here (they are at the close of Part 4)

We missed the Buena Vista Social Club concert at Orchestra Hall due to out-of-town obligations but were advised that it was sold out.  If only we could get the modern music to draw similar numbers here...