Results for "Xavier Cugat"
Xavier Cugat

Born:
Xavier Cugat was the first bandleader to front a successful Latin orchestra in the United States. He was largely responsible for popularizing Latin music among North American audiences, paving the way for such future stars as Perez Prado, and Tito Puente. Sources differ widely on Cugat's early life and career. It seems, though, that he was born on January 1, 1900, in the Catalonian region of Spain and moved to Cuba with his family when he was only a few years of age. A child prodigy on the violin, at age 12 he earned a seat as first violin with the orchestra of the Teatro Nacional in Havana. The young Cugat also apparently struck up a friendship with famed opera singer Enrico Caruso, who brought him to America near the end of the First World War
Kuumbwa And The Magic of Monday Night

by Arthur R George
Monday nights, otherwise a down time for many music venues, have been magic for the Kuumbwa Jazz Center in jny: Santa Cruz, CA. Kuumbwa's most prominent shows occur, oddly, on off-calendar Monday nights or midweek, featuring headliners before or after their engagements nearby in jny: San Francisco and jny: Oakland and who are touring up or ...
Tribute to Ernesto Lecuona: Michel Camilo, Gonzalo Rubalcaba and Chucho Valdés

by Harry S. Pariser
Tribute to Ernesto Lecuona: Michel Camilo, Gonzalo Rubalcaba and Chucho Valdés Symphony Hall San Francisco, California June 21, 2015 Individuals hearing of a tribute concert to be held commemorating the work of legendary musician Ernesto Lecuona might be forgiven for furrowing their brows. For Lecuona--despite his status as an extraordinary pianist, ...
The Eric Ineke Jazzxpress: Jazz XL

by Greg Simmons
Straight-ahead and alternatively swinging and blue, The Eric Ineke Jazzxpress' Jazz XL delivers a terrific performance through first-rate material treated with energetic, loving respect. Some of jazz's great composers are represented, with performances of material by Xavier Cugat, Johnny Griffin, and the ubiquitous Thelonious Monk, showing admiration for the tunes, overlain with top-notch individual performances. Culled ...
Havana Plaza Jazz Festival 2011: US Interests Section Jazz Party

by Louis Heckheimer
27th Havana Plaza Jazz FestivalHavana, CubaDecember 15-18, 2011 [Note: The Havana Plaza Jazz Festival took place in Havana, Cuba from December 15th through the 18th, 2011. This is the first of a series of articles reporting on concerts and other activities that took place as well as profiles of Cuban musicians that ...
Mickey Roker: You Never Lose the Blues

by Victor L. Schermer
Drummer Mickey Roker is a mainstay and icon of the jazz world, having a played with Dizzy Gillespie, the Modern Jazz Quartet, Lee Morgan, and many of the other signature groups of modern jazz. Yet he has always maintained his Philadelphia roots, and is and has been a regular at Ortlieb's Jazzhaus in that ...