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Jazz Articles about Alex "Apolo" Ayala

About Alex "Apolo" Ayala

Album Review

Dave Schumacher & Cubeye: Agua con Gas

Read "Agua con Gas" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
March 18, 2026

As the name Agua Con Gas suggests, Chicago-born, New York-based baritone saxophonist Dave Schumacher and his Cubeye ensemble favor jazz with an unmistakable Latin accent. Schumacher's fourth album with the ensemble leans south of the border all the way, harbored in a sharp and buoyant rhythmic groove that suits them like the proverbial glove. Schumacher's brusque and brawny baritone leads the way on most numbers, kindling memories of such masters of the horn as Ronnie Cuber, Gary Smulyan, ...

Album Review

Michael Eckroth Group: Human Geography

Read "Human Geography" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
November 27, 2024

Grammy-nominated pianist/composer Micael Eckroth follows up his highly acclaimed Plena (Truth Revolution Records, 2021) with the vibrant and robust Human Geography, melding the sounds of contemporary jazz with elements of Afro-Caribbean music while exploring his affinity for the Latin sound and “paying homage to the culture of Cuba, Puerto Rico and the vast amalgam that comprise jazz." An Assistant Professor of music, jazz piano at Florida International University, Eckroth's geographical location in the diverse Anglo and mixed Hispanic community of ...

Album Review

Michael Eckroth Group: Plena

by Dan Bilawsky
December 21, 2021

Michael Eckroth had clear goals in mind for this project--"to create music that was lyrical, modern, true to its Afro-Latin roots, but never purist in its approach"--and he's accomplished his mission with gusto. Through Plena, this Grammy-nominated pianist/composer delivers a program of original music that, while acknowledging folkloric traditions, doesn't buy into their formal strictures and structures. Instead, Eckroth deals in forward-thinking offshoots and branch realities that beautifully extend on--and past--those points. Essentially working with two different ...