Jazz Articles about John Santos

About John Santos

Live Review

John Santos Sextet at The Freight

by Harry S. Pariser
March 16, 2026

John Santos Sextet The Freight The African Roots of Jazz Latino Berkeley, CA March 1, 2026 Percussionist and composer John Santos is no stranger to concert halls in the Bay Area and beyond. He is known not only for his musical ensembles (such as Orquesta Batachanga and the Machete Ensemble) but also for his decades of employing his encyclopedic knowledge to teach classes concerning the roots and history of salsa music. Tonight's ...

Album Review

Carmen Staaf: Sounding Line

Read "Sounding Line" reviewed by Vic Albani

by Vic Albani
December 16, 2025

Carmen Staaf è una forza emergente della scena musicale di New York e, più in generale, del panorama jazz internazionale. Pianista originaria di Seattle--allieva di Danilo Perez--ha suonato e registrato con alcuni dei musicisti più influenti della nostra epoca. È stata ascoltata al Village Vanguard, al Blue Note, allo SFJAZZ e in numerosi festival di primo piano in tutto il mondo, tra cui Newport, Monterey, Montreux e il North Sea Jazz Festival, pur rimanendo per lungo tempo poco citata da ...

Live Review

John Santos at Miner Auditorium

by Steven Roby
December 3, 2025

John Santos Sextet Miner Auditorium John Santos 70th Birthday ConcertSan Francisco, CA November 28, 2025 A warm, familial feeling filled the Miner Auditorium this Thanksgiving weekend, creating a noticeable shift from its usual formal reverence. When John Santos stepped onto the stage--tall, slim, and dressed in a crisp white suit and pork-pie hat--the sold-out audience welcomed him not just as a performer, but as a familiar relative. However, the superficial excitement of the birthday ...

Album Review

Carmen Staaf: Sounding Line

Read "Sounding Line" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
October 22, 2025

Thelonious Monk (1917 -1982) was often grouped with the bebop pianists of the late 1940s and early 1950s. But he was not bop. He was a pianistic world unto itself. Quirky, dissonant, often playful. Mary Lou Williams (1910 -1981) did not fit the bop category either. She came in before bop's advent. Her music was stylistically closer to Duke Ellington's eloquence, sass and swing. Bop aside, pianist Carmen Staaf heard a musical kinship between these two 20th-century contemporaries. ...

Album Review

Roger Glenn: My Latin Heart

Read "My Latin Heart" reviewed by Pierre Giroux

by Pierre Giroux
August 16, 2025

Roger Glenn, son of the renowned instrumentalist Tyree Glenn, has never been content to stay in one lane. A master of reeds and vibraphone, he continues to embody the spirit of crossing boundaries. On My Latin Heart, Glenn undertakes an energizing session that celebrates the rhythmic vitality of the African diaspora as much as it serves as a personal manifesto. Flanked by a stellar ensemble of seasoned collaborators--pianist David K. Mathews, guitarist Ray Obiedo, bassist David ...

Live Review

John Santos Sextet at Brava Theater

by Harry S. Pariser
May 17, 2025

John Santos Sextet Brava Theater San Francisco, CA May 2, 2025 The San Francisco Bay area is home to a small but thriving salsa and Latin jazz scene. Many of them got together on a Friday night at the Brava Theater in the Mission District to perform together with John Santos, a local musical stalwart. Santos is an internationally respected percussionist who is also an authoritative musicologist who has taught classes on Latin ...

Album Review

Bill Ortiz: Points of View

Read "Points of View" reviewed by Nicholas F. Mondello

by Nicholas F. Mondello
July 29, 2023

Long associated with Carlos Santana, with whom he had a 16-year stint, trumpeter Bill Ortiz steps into the spotlight here with an auspicious and highly entertaining session. Ten selections showcase Ortiz who is supported by some of the Bay area's best. The order of the day is energy, excitement, and an overall superb show. “Sunburst," an Eddie Henderson tune, launches things with a pulsing piano, driving bass, textured rhythms and Ortiz wailing, first using a Harmon mute ...