Omar Sosa Returns to Yoshi's

Cuban pianist Omar Sosa will be playing at Yoshi's Oakland, April 10-13. Celebrating the release of his new CD, Afreecanos, Sosa returns to the renowned jazz club with his new quartet, featuring Senegalese vocalist Mola Sylla, Mozambican electric bassist Childo Tomas, and American drummer Marque Gilmore. Shows are 8:00 PM and 10:00 PM Thursday through Saturday (April 10-12), and 7:00 PM and 9:00 PM Sunday (April 13). For tickets please call 510-238-9200 or visit http://www.yoshis.com/. For more information and complete tour schedule, please visit http://www.melodia.com/. Afreecanos dropped back in February. Below is an album review I wrote, originally published in Jazziz magazine.

Cuban pianist Omar Sosa is known for eschewing musical platitudes in favor of imaginative forays of transatlantic proportions. On Afreecanos (Otá Records) he frees-up Afro-Cuban forms by creating arrangements easily adapted by African musicians and folkloric instruments such as the ngoni, kora, and talking drum. Although Sosa’s detour from Cuban music cliches is really a continuum that maps out a bigger picture, much of the journey is rooted in his own Afro-Cuban spirituality, a search that begins from within and one that is at the core of his musical evolution. Featuring 20 musicians from Cuba, Brazil, France, and various African nations, Afreecanos captures the totality of what Sosa has been, up until now, alluding to in his body of work and that is that the mother of all mothers is Africa. The eleven-track album is his complete vision, a cornucopia of elements announced right away in the Prologue, with Yoruba ritual chants and playful vibraphone and marimba bouncing off of Afro-Cuban percussion. Sosa deftly threads any loose ends together through modern jazz idioms that bridge the ancestral with the contemporary. “Lyade” opens translucent, hymn-like, with Sosa’s sparse, elegant piano filling in the spaces where needed, before a crescendo swells and fluidly shifts from the motherland to one of her many musical off-springs, in this case Cuba. Anchored in the rhythmic tempo of the timbales, a mellifluous flute, courtesy of Cuban Leandro Saint-Hill, weaves in and out of the percussive drive. While bamboo woodwinds inspire breezy ruminations on “Light in the Sky” the mood on “Tres Negros” is optimistic and reminiscent of the cosmopolitan bustle of Old World streets. Sosa’s phrasings are set against the backdrop of pitter-pattering batá drums and Julio Barreto’s trap set, while interspersed, spirited stabs of brass add a sense of urgency. Afreecanos is dedicated to the late Cuban percussion masters, Miguel Angá Diaz and Pancho Quinto. Diaz, who had frequently toured with Sosa, died suddenly of heart failure in 2006 at a relatively young age. On the mournful “Why Angá?” Sosa ends his journey on a melancholic note as Barreto heightens the heart’s agitation with stampeding drum rolls that taper off, lamenting a question that can never be answered.

Omar Sosa Returns to Yoshi's

Cuban pianist Omar Sosa will be playing at Yoshi's Oakland, April 10-13. Celebrating the release of his new CD, Afreecanos, Sosa returns to the renowned jazz club with his new quartet, featuring Senegalese vocalist Mola Sylla, Mozambican electric bassist Childo Tomas, and American drummer Marque Gilmore. Shows are 8:00 PM and 10:00 PM Thursday through Saturday (April 10-12), and 7:00 PM and 9:00 PM Sunday (April 13). For tickets please call 510-238-9200 or visit http://www.yoshis.com/. For more information and complete tour schedule, please visit http://www.melodia.com/. Afreecanos dropped back in February. Below is an album review I wrote, originally published in Jazziz magazine.

Cuban pianist Omar Sosa is known for eschewing musical platitudes in favor of imaginative forays of transatlantic proportions. On Afreecanos (Otá Records) he frees-up Afro-Cuban forms by creating arrangements easily adapted by African musicians and folkloric instruments such as the ngoni, kora, and talking drum. Although Sosa’s detour from Cuban music cliches is really a continuum that maps out a bigger picture, much of the journey is rooted in his own Afro-Cuban spirituality, a search that begins from within and one that is at the core of his musical evolution. Featuring 20 musicians from Cuba, Brazil, France, and various African nations, Afreecanos captures the totality of what Sosa has been, up until now, alluding to in his body of work and that is that the mother of all mothers is Africa. The eleven-track album is his complete vision, a cornucopia of elements announced right away in the Prologue, with Yoruba ritual chants and playful vibraphone and marimba bouncing off of Afro-Cuban percussion. Sosa deftly threads any loose ends together through modern jazz idioms that bridge the ancestral with the contemporary. “Lyade” opens translucent, hymn-like, with Sosa’s sparse, elegant piano filling in the spaces where needed, before a crescendo swells and fluidly shifts from the motherland to one of her many musical off-springs, in this case Cuba. Anchored in the rhythmic tempo of the timbales, a mellifluous flute, courtesy of Cuban Leandro Saint-Hill, weaves in and out of the percussive drive. While bamboo woodwinds inspire breezy ruminations on “Light in the Sky” the mood on “Tres Negros” is optimistic and reminiscent of the cosmopolitan bustle of Old World streets. Sosa’s phrasings are set against the backdrop of pitter-pattering batá drums and Julio Barreto’s trap set, while interspersed, spirited stabs of brass add a sense of urgency. Afreecanos is dedicated to the late Cuban percussion masters, Miguel Angá Diaz and Pancho Quinto. Diaz, who had frequently toured with Sosa, died suddenly of heart failure in 2006 at a relatively young age. On the mournful “Why Angá?” Sosa ends his journey on a melancholic note as Barreto heightens the heart’s agitation with stampeding drum rolls that taper off, lamenting a question that can never be answered.

Tal Para Cual -- A Pair of Infectious Salsa Albums Hit the Streets April 22

The Think Global and Rough Guide series are getting ready to drop some serious Latin dance music assaults featuring artists from the Caribbean, Colombia, and New York. From the polyrhythmic pyrotechnics of Cuban timba to the retro Latin soul of bugalú, the two discs compliment each other in their diasporic display of the genre's wide range of styles and hard-driving party music aesthetic. Together the albums have about 30 acts between them. Each song is like a hand picked gem expertly placed so that the next track shines just as bright. On Cuban Street Party venerable and contemporary orquestas such as Adalberto Alvarez Y Su Son, Bamboleo, Sierra Maestra, and Maraca are just a few bands that exemplify the explosive cross-section of Cuba's lean, dance music machines. Fiesta Latina - which I must mention is being produced in collaboration with, and raising funds for Amnesty International - offers a different take on salsa, filtered through such greats as the late Ray Barretto, more obscure acts like Colombiafrica, and New York's swinging Spanish Harlem Orchestra, a relatively new outfit that has helped usher in the salsa dura renaissance. My main criticism of the album relates to the garishly stereotypical cover. Whereas Cuban Street Party beckons with a spontaneous, carefree shot of a street carnaval reveler clad in typical rumbera attire, Fiesta Latina's lip-puckering cha-cha girl dressed in loud primary colors and cascading fruit on her head does the music contained in the album a great disservice. But don't judge a book by its cover. Anyway back to Cuban Street Party. I gotta say La Lupe is my absolute favorite here. I may not agree with the selection of "Sin Maíz," given so many other more memorable songs, but I take solace in the fact that the dynamic Cuban diva always owned her performances. Coming from La Yiyiyi, you can be sure it's raw expression, even if she's singing about corn. La Lupe was one of a kind. Volatile and unpredictable, she unleashed her histrionic fury on stage, famously beating up on her accompanying pianist Homero Balboa during her live sets in Havana. That was before she left the island in 1962 for the Big Apple, eventually becoming another star in Fania's hitmaking machine. She didn't let up on her onstage antics and was even fired by Tito Puento when she became too hard to handle. Tragically, La Lupe lived out her remaining days practically destitute and forgotten. In recent years she's been reclaimed as an icon. Plenty late for her, but never late for Latin music fans to discover her legacy.

Tal Para Cual -- A Pair of Infectious Salsa Albums Hit the Streets April 22

The Think Global and Rough Guide series are getting ready to drop some serious Latin dance music assaults featuring artists from the Caribbean, Colombia, and New York. From the polyrhythmic pyrotechnics of Cuban timba to the retro Latin soul of bugalú, the two discs compliment each other in their diasporic display of the genre's wide range of styles and hard-driving party music aesthetic. Together the albums have about 30 acts between them. Each song is like a hand picked gem expertly placed so that the next track shines just as bright. On Cuban Street Party venerable and contemporary orquestas such as Adalberto Alvarez Y Su Son, Bamboleo, Sierra Maestra, and Maraca are just a few bands that exemplify the explosive cross-section of Cuba's lean, dance music machines. Fiesta Latina - which I must mention is being produced in collaboration with, and raising funds for Amnesty International - offers a different take on salsa, filtered through such greats as the late Ray Barretto, more obscure acts like Colombiafrica, and New York's swinging Spanish Harlem Orchestra, a relatively new outfit that has helped usher in the salsa dura renaissance. My main criticism of the album relates to the garishly stereotypical cover. Whereas Cuban Street Party beckons with a spontaneous, carefree shot of a street carnaval reveler clad in typical rumbera attire, Fiesta Latina's lip-puckering cha-cha girl dressed in loud primary colors and cascading fruit on her head does the music contained in the album a great disservice. But don't judge a book by its cover. Anyway back to Cuban Street Party. I gotta say La Lupe is my absolute favorite here. I may not agree with the selection of "Sin Maíz," given so many other more memorable songs, but I take solace in the fact that the dynamic Cuban diva always owned her performances. Coming from La Yiyiyi, you can be sure it's raw expression, even if she's singing about corn. La Lupe was one of a kind. Volatile and unpredictable, she unleashed her histrionic fury on stage, famously beating up on her accompanying pianist Homero Balboa during her live sets in Havana. That was before she left the island in 1962 for the Big Apple, eventually becoming another star in Fania's hitmaking machine. She didn't let up on her onstage antics and was even fired by Tito Puento when she became too hard to handle. Tragically, La Lupe lived out her remaining days practically destitute and forgotten. In recent years she's been reclaimed as an icon. Plenty late for her, but never late for Latin music fans to discover her legacy.

Cuban Jazz Drummer Dafnis Prieto Declares His Independence

In the short time innovative drummer Dafnis Prieto has lived in the U.S., his indomitable spirit behind the trap set has elevated his instrument to sonic realms few ever thought possible. Now he's seizing control of his music career by launching his own label, Dafnison Music. Striking out on his own translates into more freedom to experiment and Prieto's wasted no time.

On his indie label debut, Taking the Soul for a Walk, Prieto proclaims his self-liberation and expands his vision from his previous quintet formation to a sextet ensemble that includes saxophonists Yosvany Terry and Peter Apfelbaum, trumpeter Avishai Cohen, pianist Manuel Valera, and bassist Yunior Terry. While the new format opens up the playing field for Prieto, the resulting album is anything but loose. Prieto's compositions are precise, tightly-crafted, and edgy --but he doesn't sacrifice the music's fluidity, demonstrating a knack for constructing complex narrative lines inhabited by polyrhythms and counterpoint melodies.

A native of Santa Clara, Cuba, Prieto has played with an array of different groups since his arrival in New York in 1999 -- a Who's Who list that includes some of the most relevant jazz players in the U.S. One of his first jobs was with Henry Threadgill's band Zooid. It was a match made in heaven: Threadgill, one of the most recognized names of the jazz avant-garde, writes meticulously accented music. Since then, Prieto has worked with Claudia Acuña's band, melding straight-ahead jazz and traditional South American rhythms like the Venezuelan joropo and the Argentine chacarera. He's also played in Eddie Palmieri's Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, Chico O' Farrill's Afro-Cuban Jazz Project, with pianists Andrew Hill and D. D. Jackson, bassist John Benítez, trumpeters Brian Lynch, Roy Hargrove, and Arturo Sandoval, saxophonist Steve Coleman, and vibraphonist Dave Samuels.

Prieto is known for his pliable, hyperkinetic drumming, energetic sense of groove, and impeccable timing. His synthesis of jazz and indigenous forms are informed by a collation of various Afro-Cuban hand percussion traditions, post-bop idioms, and the avant-garde. Prieto's last two discs, About the Monks and Dafnis Prieto Absolute Quintet were released by Zoho Music; his new disc can be purchased on cdbaby.com.

Cuban Jazz Drummer Dafnis Prieto Declares His Independence

In the short time innovative drummer Dafnis Prieto has lived in the U.S., his indomitable spirit behind the trap set has elevated his instrument to sonic realms few ever thought possible. Now he's seizing control of his music career by launching his own label, Dafnison Music. Striking out on his own translates into more freedom to experiment and Prieto's wasted no time.

On his indie label debut, Taking the Soul for a Walk, Prieto proclaims his self-liberation and expands his vision from his previous quintet formation to a sextet ensemble that includes saxophonists Yosvany Terry and Peter Apfelbaum, trumpeter Avishai Cohen, pianist Manuel Valera, and bassist Yunior Terry. While the new format opens up the playing field for Prieto, the resulting album is anything but loose. Prieto's compositions are precise, tightly-crafted, and edgy --but he doesn't sacrifice the music's fluidity, demonstrating a knack for constructing complex narrative lines inhabited by polyrhythms and counterpoint melodies.

A native of Santa Clara, Cuba, Prieto has played with an array of different groups since his arrival in New York in 1999 -- a Who's Who list that includes some of the most relevant jazz players in the U.S. One of his first jobs was with Henry Threadgill's band Zooid. It was a match made in heaven: Threadgill, one of the most recognized names of the jazz avant-garde, writes meticulously accented music. Since then, Prieto has worked with Claudia Acuña's band, melding straight-ahead jazz and traditional South American rhythms like the Venezuelan joropo and the Argentine chacarera. He's also played in Eddie Palmieri's Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, Chico O' Farrill's Afro-Cuban Jazz Project, with pianists Andrew Hill and D. D. Jackson, bassist John Benítez, trumpeters Brian Lynch, Roy Hargrove, and Arturo Sandoval, saxophonist Steve Coleman, and vibraphonist Dave Samuels.

Prieto is known for his pliable, hyperkinetic drumming, energetic sense of groove, and impeccable timing. His synthesis of jazz and indigenous forms are informed by a collation of various Afro-Cuban hand percussion traditions, post-bop idioms, and the avant-garde. Prieto's last two discs, About the Monks and Dafnis Prieto Absolute Quintet were released by Zoho Music; his new disc can be purchased on cdbaby.com.

The Heineken TransAtlantic Festival Prepares to Wreak Havoc on Miami

Miami's The Rhythm Foundation is gearing up for its 6th annual Heineken TransAtlantic Festival, offering an exciting line up that features artists from Europe and South America. The four-concert series kicks off April 11 with Spanish cantaor Antonio Carmona. But this year's highlights are Brazilian baile funk art-schoolers Bonde do Role and Catalonian electronic music mavens The Pinker Tones. These buzz-worthy acts are hugely popular with cool kids on a global scale for their mutant, cross-pollinations on disc and their whirling mutiny onstage. Bonde do Role is touring for the first time since MC Marina Ribatski called it quits, forcing the band to cancel its Australian dates last year. They went from being a trio to a quartet as remaining members Gorky and Pedro recruited two female singers chosen via televised auditions in conjunction with MTV Brasil. Marina is a hard act to follow, which is why I'm sure it took two girls to replace her. Newbies Ana Bernardino and Laura Taylor will join the band for a ramped up set featuring new songs, covers, and old Bonde classics. They follow the announcement of their Heineken Festival gig with an 18-date run that includes a performance at Coachella. Look out for my live concert review of the show for the dish on how well Bonde's new members live up to Marina's legacy. Meanwhile The Pinker Tones are also using the Heineken gig as a launching pad for their massive 42-city Vans Warped tour across the U.S. this summer. The Barcelona latintronica duo's new album Wild Animals (Nacional) drops April 29th. Visit their MySpace for tour dates (www.myspace.com/thepinkertones). Below are Bonde's dates followed by the complete Heineken Fest. line up.

4/24 - MIAMI, FL STUDIO A

4/26 - INDIO, CA COACHELLA FESTIVAL

4/28 - TUCSON, AZ PLUSH

4/30 - AUSTIN, TX EMOS JR.

5/1 - DALLAS, TX PALLADIUM LOFT

5/2 - BATON ROUGE, LA SPANISH MOON

5/3 - TALLAHASSEE, FL THE BETA BAR

5/5 - GAINESVILLE, FL COMMON GROUNDS

5/7 - JACKSONVILLE, FL TSI

5/8 - ORLANDO, FL THE CLUB AT FIRESTONE

5/9 - ATLANTA, GA DRUNKEN UNICORN

5/10 - CHAPEL HILL, NC LOCAL 506

5/12 - BALTIMORE, MD SONAR

5/13 - PHILADELPHIA, PA JOHNNY BRENDAS

5/14 - BROOKLYN, NY EUROPA NIGHTCLUB

5/15 - NEW YORK, NY BOWERY BALLROOM

5/16 - MONTREAL, QC LES SAINTS

5/18 - TORONTO, ON THE SOCIAL

Heineken TransAtlantic Festival Miami

April 11 Antonio Carmona

April 24 Bonde do Role

April 26 Babylon Circus and Rootz Underground

May 3 The Pinker Tones