Articles by Latin Jazz

Radio & Podcasts

Folk and Futurism with Sofia Rei

by Leo Sidran
September 9, 2026

Argentine singer, composer and producer Sofía Rei talks about leaving Buenos Aires and rediscovering the music of home, moving beyond the boundaries of jazz, embracing electronics and production, and learning from collaborators and students. Her new album, Antónima (GroundUP), brings those threads together through what she calls “Folk and Futurism" a meeting place for tradition, technology and a distinctly contemporary musical identity. ...

Live Review

Orquesta Akokán at The Freight

by Roy Strassman
August 28, 2026

Orquesta Akokán The Freight & Salvage Live performance Berkeley, CAAugust 7, 2026 Orquesta Akokán had just flown in from its European tour and was playing the first of its Bay Area weekend performances at Berkeley's Freight & Salvage, currently called “The Freight." They hit the ground running with “Con Altura," (With Altitude), a seeming oxymoron, were it not that the band simply took off again, filling the dance floor until the final “adios" some ...

Play This!

Angélique Kidjo: Voodoo Child (Slight Return)

by Ian Patterson
August 23, 2026

Hollywood has come late to the party. Pretty much the whole world knew that Angélique Kidjo is a major star, decades before the Beninese singer was honored with a place on Hollywood's Walk of Fame in August 2026. At least Kidjo got to enjoy the hoopla while still alive and kicking. Jimi Hendrix only got his star on the Walk of Fame more than two decades after his death. Kidjo has long expressed her admiration for Hendrix, describing ...

Radio & Podcasts

Kelan Phil Cohran, Airto Moreira, Nicholas Payton & Butcher Brown, Plus Others

by Lawrence Peryer
August 21, 2026

Episode 19 is about the many ways of turning old material into new work: Kelan Phil Cohran's 1993 planetarium session resurfacing as a proper vinyl reissue, Concepción Huerta printing electricity onto magnetic tape, Wild Gods treating archival Gaelic lament as material to be worked rather than heritage to be preserved. It closes on two records built openly from older ones: Airto Moreira and Ricardo Bacelar's cross-generational Brazilian session, and Nicholas Payton and Butcher Brown's soul-funk rebuild of Miles Davis's Kind ...

In Pictures

Yilian Canizares Trio Plays SFJAZZ

by Ronald Davis
August 7, 2026

A collection of photos from the Yilian Canizares concert at SFJAZZ Fest Summer Sessions in San Francisco on July 26, 2026 featuring Yilian Canizares, Childo Tomas and Roberto Jr Vizcaino. ...

Book Review

Reimagining Panama's Musical And Cultural Narratives Of Jazz

by Ian Patterson
August 6, 2026

Reimagining Panama's Musical And Cultural Narratives Of Jazz Patricia Zarate de Perez 203 Pages ISBN: 9781793621832 Lexington Books 2026 A young but precocious music, jazz thrust its way into almost every corner of the planet in double time, shaping and, in turn, being shaped by every culture it has touched. Little wonder then, that the history of jazz--much like the music itself--is an ongoing process of discovery, recalibration, acknowledgment and debate. With Reimagining ...

Radio & Podcasts

Willy Rodriguez, Mark Turner, and Emma Rawicz

by Jerome Wilson
July 15, 2026

The featured musicians in this episode include Willy Rodriguez, Mark Turner, Chris Connor, and Emma Rawicz. Playlist Henry Threadgill Sextett “I Can't Wait Till I Get Home" from The Complete Novus & Columbia Recordings of Henry Threadgill & Air (Mosaic) 00:00 Chris Connor “Trouble is a Man" from This is Chris (Bethlehem) 00:58 Tiziana Bacchetta “Born to be Blue" from Parole Confuse (Philology) 3:50 Kelly Green “Milestones / Here and There" from Eat Your Greens (Self-Produced) 9:10 Host ...

In Pictures

Half Moon Bay Wine & Jazz Festival 2026

by Walter Atkins
July 3, 2026

A collection of photos from the Half Moon Bay Wine & Jazz Festival in Half Moon Bay CA on May 9, 2026. ...

Live Review

Chucho Valdés Royal Quartet at SFJAZZ Center

by Harry S. Pariser
June 23, 2026

Chucho Valdés Royal Quartet SFJAZZ San Francisco, CA, USA June 13, 2026 Born to a musical family in Quivicán, Cuba in October 1941, Chucho Valdés's given name is Dionisio Jesús Valdés Rodríguez. His father, pianist, composer, and bandleader Ramón Bebo Valdes, introduced him to the piano at age three. Valdés graduated from the Conservatorio Municipal de Música de la Habana at 14 and started his own jazz trio at age 18. His first ...

Live Review

Chucho Valdés and His Royal Quartet at Miner Auditorium

by Steven Roby
June 18, 2026

Chucho Valdés Royal Quartet Miner Auditorium San Francisco, CA June 14, 2026 Sunday night at Miner Auditorium marked the fourth and final night of a residency four months in the making. Chucho Valdes and his Royal Quartet were originally booked for late February 2026, then rescheduled to June--and by the time the maestro finally took his seat at the Steinway, the anticipation in the room had the particular charge of something long awaited.