John Santos Sextet at Brava Theater

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 music history for decades as well as having record numerous albums. His album Horizontes (Machete Records, 2025) features his John Santos Sextet along with some special guests, many of whom took the stage with him that evening.

After relating that "I can't afford to live in the Mission no more," the ensemble launched into the hard charging "14 Mission," named after the bus that traverses lengthy Mission Street. The tune, which Santos was playing live for the first time, featured solos by San Francisco native Marco Diaz, who has been playing trumpet since the age of 14, and long time associate, San Francisco State music professor and flautist Dr. John Calloway.

Violinist Anthony Blea joined the ensemble for "Lago Xochmilco," which also featured piano and flute solos. "Brazos Abiertos," where horns competed with congas, was prefaced by a spoken-word poem by special guest Rico Pabon; it also offered a great bass solo by Saul Sierra, a bandleader and composer in his own right.

For "Que Sabroso," Santos introduced Camagüey native and timbales master Orestes Vilató in glowing terms. Vilató held forth on timbales and Pabón rapped. Arranged by Santos and Sierra, "Un Levantamiento" ("An Uprising") was performed with the Oakland Symphony, marking the first time that Puerto Rico's "national instrument," the cuatro Puertorriqueño, was paired with a symphony. For this tune, Pedro José Pastrana turned in an extraordinary performance on cuatro. Three backing singers and a narrator came to the stage, bringing the number of musicians onstage to a total of 15; the tune was punctuated by gorgeous melodies by flute, violin and searing timbales from Vilató and singing from Santos.

Talking about creating "a better world for children," Santos introduced special guest, saxophonist Dr. Loco, the stage name adopted by San Francisco State professor Dr. José Cuellar, who fronts the Rocking Jalapeño Band, for "La Juventud," which was prefaced by yet another rap from Pabón. A singer with a powerful voice, Destani Wolf came onstage for the percussion-heavy romantic ballad "Taurema," which also saw powerful piano from Díaz.

The band then ceded the stage to Pabón, who gave an extended, rapid-fire talk about growing up in New York City and cultural identity, while engaging the audience in a call and response. Santos returned to discourse about his involvement with San Francisco Carnival, "It's been 47 years now," and how its success is "the worst nightmare of this regime."

The evening continued with "Mas Boricua Que Yo," "Bernal Heights," which is named after Santos's childhood neighborhood (which featured a lovely solo from Calloway and lead vocals from Juan Luis Perez, and "You Don't Know What Love Is" before the band concluded by playing the "encore" of "Mi Corazón Borincano" without exiting the stage.