For nearly 15 years the Steven Oquendo Latin Jazz Orchestra (SOLJO) has been one of the most precious hidden treasures of the Bronx, NYC’s majority Hispanic borough. SOLJO was founded by trumpeter-educator Oquendo, who has performed alongside Celia Cruz, Rubén Blades, Eddie Palmieri, Cuco Peña, Wynton Marsalis, & many others. It started as a rehearsal band comprised of a diverse assortment of some of NYC’s most talented musicians that soon found itself with a weekly residency in the Throgs Neck neighborhood at the restaurant Mamajuana, where the group regularly holds fort the first Tuesday night of every month. Since that time, SOLJO has commanded the stage at some of NYC’s most respected music venues and events. This recording finds the band lighting up the house (of swing) while celebrating the centennials of Tito Puente and Tito Rodriguez at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Dizzy’s Club, located just a few blocks uptown from the old Palladium Ballroom, where the two Titos made history at the home of the mambo. SOLJO’s single “Agua Limpia Todo” provides a preview of this mesmerizing debut album.
The orchestra closes the set with the same blue-hot fire with which it opened, burning things up on Puente’s arrangement of Antar Daly driving onomatopoeic ”Babarabatiri,” on which veteran baritone saxophonist Pete Miranda & trombonist Michael Pallas are the featured soloists.
The orchestra closes the set with the same blue-hot fire with which it opened, burning things up on Puente’s arrangement of Antar Daly driving onomatopoeic ”Babarabatiri,” on which veteran baritone saxophonist Pete Miranda & trombonist Michael Pallas are the featured soloists.
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