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Mauricio Herrera
Growing up in the eastern province of Holguin, Cuba, Maruicio was exposed to the deep traditions of sacred and ritual music. His family is very musical, and at age 7 he started on violin, but by 14 began studying percussion, where he found his niche. After graduation from the Jose Maria Ochoa Conservatory in Holguin, he began playing in various local popular and folkloric groups and was on faculty at Escuela Vocacional de Arte. In 1994 he moved to La Habana to broaden his horizons, where he played, toured, and recorded with artists such as Hector Valentin, Angel Bonne, La Barriada, Paulito FG, Manolito Simonet, ManoliÃÅn el Medico de la salsa, Pachito Alonso. In 2001 he relocated to Mexico where he played with several projects including Otra Idea Orquestra, Amaury Gutierrez, David Torrens, and many others.
In 2005, Mauricio moved to New York where he currently resides. He has played, recorded, and toured with an astonishing range of jazz and Afro-Cuban and Caribbean artists, from the in-the-pocket arrangements of flutist Mark Weinstein to the outside, ritual-influenced work of pianist David Virelles. His credits read like a who’s-who of jazz, including David Sanchez, Stefon Harris, Nicholas Payton, Christian Scott – 90 Miles Project, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Ignacio Berroa, Yerba Buena, Lila Downs, Manuel Valera and the New Cuban Express, Alfredo de la Fe, Bryan Lynch, Luis Perdomo, The Rodriguez Brothers, Dave Samuels and The Caribbean Jazz Project, Hector Martignon, Batyr Shukenov, La India, Spanish Harlem Orquestra, Steve Coleman, Jackie Terrasson, John Benitez, Mark Weinstein, Lew Soloff, Aruan Ortiz, Candido Camero, Yerba Buena, Osmany Paredes, Yosvany Terry, Pedro Martinez y Grupo Ibboru, Cimarron project, Francisco Mela, and many others.
Joining the SJW faculty for the first time, Mauricio is a committed educator, having taught at the Boys and Girls Harbour Conservatory in New York City, as well as giving master classes at the Banff Centre, at the Berklee College of Music, and JAZZUV Xalapa University.
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Dave Schumacher & Cubeye: Smoke in the Sky

by Jack Bowers
Chicago-bred, New York-based baritone saxophonist Dave Schumacher leans heavily toward Latin melodies and rhythms on Smoke in the Sky, his recording of an able septet he has dubbed Cubeye. Contemporary jazz lies at the core of Schumacher's cross- cultural endeavor, one that his like-minded teammates take readily to heart while lending their insight and expertise to the largely warm and engaging enterprise. While Schumacher's burly baritone, reminiscent of Pepper Adams, Ronnie Cuber, Nick Brignola, Gary Smulyan, Cecil ...
Continue ReadingMichael Eckroth Group: Human Geography

by Edward Blanco
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 ...
Continue ReadingPatricia Brennan: Breaking Stretch

by Dan McClenaghan
On her first two albums, vibraphonist Patricia Brennan worked with a quartet comprised of three percussion instruments, herself on vibes and marimba, joined by percussionist Mauricio Herrera and drummer Marcus Gilmore, with a bassist Kim Cass. Momentum in large part, is the name of the game. For Breaking Stretch she expands her musical universe, adding trumpeter Adam O'Farrill and saxophonists Mark Shim and Jon Irabagon. This proved a good move; her musical universe in this septet setting has an energy ...
Continue ReadingPatricia Brennan: Breaking Stretch

by Mike Jurkovic
Wild-willed vibraphonist Patricia Brennan gets straight down to business without any fanciful mission declaration with the Afro-Cuban, effusively powered, clear-the-dancefloor and blow-the-ceiling-off this joint Los Otros Yo (The Other Selves)," the opening cut of her third album Breaking Stretch. She does so in a captivatingly, wickedly good way. Brennan--who has added much vitality to music by such other big thinkers as Vijay Iyer, Mary Halvorson, Anna Webber, Michael Formanek--began her musical education at 4 years old listening to ...
Continue ReadingPatricia Brennan: More Touch

by Mike Jurkovic
It's uncanny how More Touch, vibraphonist Patricia Brennan's scarily good follow-up to her head-turning debut Maquishti (Valley of Search, 2021) follows one around all day. Its essence is in the air, in the room, in the conversation. It sneaks around the corner and races down the stairs, out into the street, and breaks into any and all of the machinations that drive the day. Born of its own fevered animation, the music on More Touchis brazen. Atmospheric yet ...
Continue ReadingMichael Eckroth Group: Plena

by Dan Bilawsky
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 ...
Continue ReadingRobby Ameen: Diluvio

by Jack Bowers
It's a given that wherever Grammy-winning drummer Robby Ameen goes, irrepressible rhythm is sure to follow. Diluvio, Ameen's third album as leader of his own ensemble, is clearly no exception to the rule. Ameen's half-dozen compositions are intrepid and lively, and even Gerry Mulligan's Line for Lyons" and John Coltrane's Impressions," which seal the album, are given bright rhythmic makeovers in keeping with the leader's metrical frame of mind. To lend color and variety, Ameen employs a ...
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Music
Breaking Stretch
From: Breaking StretchBy Mauricio Herrera
Spellbound
From: SpellboundBy Mauricio Herrera
Unquiet Respect
From: More TouchBy Mauricio Herrera
Lucero Mundo
From: Inside Rhythmic FallsBy Mauricio Herrera