Results for "Cuba"

Estrella Acosta

Born: January 20

Cuban born vocalist Estrella Acosta is an acclaimed and versatile singer-songwriter. Though she never stopped singing the folk songs of her motherland, she is equally at home embracing various Brazilian and jazz idioms. With her warm earthy voice she creates an energetic yet intimate and personal style, rooted in the sounds of her native Cuba.

She has left a travel footprint that truly makes her a citizen of the world. After completing a degree in Latin American Studies from the University of Texas at Austin, she set out to pursue her musical dreams in a journey that took her to Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro, New York City and, finally, Amsterdam, where she now resides.

Gonzalo Rubalcaba

Born: May 27, 1963

Gonzalo Julio Gonzalez Fonseca was born in Havana, Cuba, May 27, 1963, into a musical family rich in the traditions of the country’s artistic past. During his childhood, in addition to the standard fare of elementary schools, Gonzalo was absorbing his Cuban musical heritage through personal contacts within his family, notably his father, pianist Guillermo Rubalcaba, and leading musicians who were frequent houseguests: Frank Emilio, Peruchin, Felipe Dulzaides and others. He also assimilated through scarce and treasured recordings the tunes and styles of 40’s-70’s US jazz masters: Thelonius Monk, Bud Powell, Oscar Peterson among pianists; and instrumentalists Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Art Blakey

Travel To Cuba for the 35th Havana Jazz Plaza Festival

January 7, 2020

jny: Philadelphia bassist Alan Lewine will bring his original compositions to one of the premiere jazz festivals in the Caribbean-Havana Cuba's 35th Jazz Plaza the week of January 14-20, 2020. American citizens can travel legally to Cuba and explore the culture and meet the wonderful people. Alan Lewine's Owlsong Productions in partnership with Cultural Island Travel ...

Havana Big Bands: Late '50s

November 22, 2019

Havana in the 1950s was an exotic suburb of Las Vegas. How the Cuban capital became the playground of American tycoons, celebrities and hustlers is a long and sordid story. Here's the short version: After Cuba's independence from Spain in the late 1800s, the country became increasingly dependent, economically, on the U.S. At the start of ...

Omar Sosa: Building Bridges Not Walls

by Duncan Heining
May 2, 2019

Cuban-born pianist, Omar Sosa is a passionate man. Music, religion, family, his relationship to the planet—all these are inseparable to an artist whose musical world is steeped in the Afro-Cuban heritage that he draws upon so personally and individually in his work. Spinning culinary metaphors to describe the processes of music-making, he sings the praises of ...

Omar Sosa & Yilian Cañizares Music Video "Oshun" From The CD Aguas

April 18, 2019

Following the October 2018 release of their acclaimed CD, Aguas, Omar Sosa & Yilian Cañizares are set to showcase their third music video, “Oshun," in support of the recording. Aguas is a beautiful and very personal album, reflecting the perspectives of two generations of Cuban artists living outside their homeland, interpreting their Afro-traditions in unique and ...

Emir Santa Cruz Hernández

Born: June 12, 1983

Clarinetista y Saxofonista. Es uno de los más prolíficos jóvenes jazzistas de la escena cubana. Con cuatro años comienza sus estudios de Piano con la profesora Maria Zambrano. Posteriormente, ingresó en la Escuela de Artes Paulita Concepción, donde se graduó en 1998 en la especialidad de clarinete. Tuvo el privilegio de compartir escenario con grandes figuras de nuestra música como Ela Calvo, Elena Burke y Palacio Echenique, entre otros. Tiempo después, cursaría estudios de Nivel Medio Superior en la Conservatorio Municipal Amadeo Roldán, donde se graduó en el año 2003. Además, comenzó a trabajar como profesor del Taller de Música Popular Cubana y Armonía Popular en el Conservatorio Amadeo Roldán donde se ha mantenido hasta la actualidad

Ramon Valle: The Amsterdam transplant remains rooted in Cuba

by Joan Gannij
October 3, 2017

After transplanting himself to Amsterdam 20 years ago, Ramon Valle's island roots still run deep. Valle was raised in the eastern part of Cuba, in Holguin, in a musical family, with a trumpeter father, a mother who sang and recited poems, and five sisters; four who played piano, and another who was a multi-instumentalist, playing saxophone, ...

"Introducing…Ruben Gonzalez" Out June 16 Via World Circuit Records

May 23, 2017

RE-ISSUE FEATURES EXTENDED AND UNRELEASED TRACKS ON DOUBLE 180gm VINYL AND CD “The greatest piano soloist I have ever heard in my life. He’s like a Cuban cross between Thelonious Monk and Felix the Cat.” —Ry Cooder “Gonzalez was known for his suave virtuosity and playful charisma.” —NPR Music Introducing…Ruben Gonzalez, the classic debut album by ...

Harold Lopez-Nussa: El Viaje

by James Nadal
September 14, 2016

Prodigious pianist Harold López-Nussa has come full circle. With numerous acclaimed recordings, and acknowledged as a seasoned performer on international stages, he returns home and records El Viaje in Havana, Cuba, offering musical insights on the world through his piano. Continuing with his established trio format, which includes his brother Ruy Adrián López-Nussa on drums and ...