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The Cuban pianist Chucho Váldes launched his new album “Jazz Batá 2”

East Coast – New York – New Jersey

Chucho Váldes. This virtuous pianist, composer and arranger brings to the music market the sequel of his album Jazz Batá after four decades

Musicians: Chucho Valdés (Piano), Yelsy Heredia (Double Bass) – Dreiser Durruthy (Voice and Superaron Batá) & Yaroldy Abreu Robles (Congas & Percussion) – and Guest artist: Regina Carter (Violin).

After (Forty Six) 46 years, Chucho Valdés returns to the musical arena with Jazz Batá 2, an album that once again shows the creativity of this imposing Cuban music artist.

Jazz Batá 2 of the Latin Jazz genre contains eight tracks recorded in two and a half days in the John Lee´s studio in New Jersey. This ten-handed CD is the mix of classical music from West Africa impregnated in the piano solos with the Jazz Batá (sacred drums, with the hourglass shape of the Yoruba religion in Cuba), Violin, Bass and Percussion that give a sound with personality, rhythmic and lyrical at the same time.

The band in small format for this record production has four supporting musicians: Yaroldy Abreu Robles, Dreiser Durruthy Bombalé, Yelsy Heredia and Regina Carter. The first three belong to the Guantánamo region and they have deep roots in the Cuban musical culture, in addition to having studied at the conservatory.

Likewise and it should also be noted that Chucho Valdés, influential star of the contemporary Afro-Cuban Jazz, established this experimental format to three instruments (Piano, Bass and Batá) for the first time in 1972 with his album Jazz Batá.

The Jazz Batá 2‘s first single, “100 Años de Bebo”, is an unpublished melody whose composition was by Bebo and it’s a tribute to his centenary. This Danzón-Mambo is played by Regina Carter with an introduction and a “Tumbao” final, added by Chucho Valdés.

The tracks: “Obatalá”, “Oshun” and “El Güije” are themes inspired by the Yoruba religion of Cuba (Santería). Oshun is a Haitian merengue with the incursion of the violin, while El Güije is based on a rhythm created by the percussionist Dreiser Durruthy, and he presents it by speaking the sacred language, derived from the Afro-Cuban religion known as “palo”.

“Son XXI” from this new studio album, is a song by the deceased Cuban composer, Enrique Ubieta, who played with rhythmic clusters of Jazz. The first time that Chucho Valdés interpreted this theme was in the Musical Theater of Havana at the beginning of the 60s.

“Luces” is the first Bolero that incorporates Congas and Batá, as well as the harmonies of increased chords. And the single seven: “Chucho Valdés humor” is a “Descarga”, built on a rhythmic three notes (G, B, and C). According to the Valdés’ Words, “It’s like a twister”.

Finally, the eighth track: “El Payaso” is a piano solo, dedicated to Maurice Ravel. This melody was composed by Chucho Valdés when he was a member of the Cuban Orchestra of Modern Music (Founder in 1967). “… I’m a bit avant-garde, I play Batá on the Piano …”, said Chucho Valdés .

With this record production, Chucho Valdés marks a new milestone in his career, a beginning with the record label: Mack Avenue Records, and a significant chapter of his past.

TRACKS:
Obatalá	5. El humor de chucho
Son XXI	6. 100 Años de Bebo
Luces	7. El Güije
Oshun	8. El payaso

Release: November 16^th 2018

Label Record: Mack Avenue Records

Available NOW to download in the entire world!

For more information, please visit:

Web Site: https://www.valdeschucho.com/

Or Follow him for his Social Channel: https://www.facebook.com/valdes.chucho

For more information visit this social medias:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/valdes.chucho/?locale=es_LA

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Jimmy Bosch. The Creole Trombone of New York.

Norteamerica / USA / Nueva York

Jimmy Bosch was born on October 18, 1959 to a Puerto Rican family in the city of Hoboken in the state of New Jersey.

At the elementary school of his hometown, at the age of eleven Jimmy Bosch was offered a trombone which would give the starting point in his career. According to him, that metallic, valveless, long instrument (which was taller than him) was not necessarily what a child dreamed of; Perhaps, at that time, children dreamed of traveling to the moon, or with an electric guitar that would make them look like The Beatles or, failing that, the Rolling Stones. It didn’t take long for that 11-year-old boy to transform this instrument into an expression of his already visible creativity.

At the age of 13, the talented Jimmy was rehearsing with local bands and making his first foray onto the public stage a year or two later. His determination, the Latin blood that ran through his veins and the taste for the genre that had captivated him on so many occasions, led him to play with the most recognized band in the city: Manny Oquendo & Conjunto Libre. His dexterity and ingenuity in playing “moñas” (a section of trombone solos that enrich the melody) helped him to work with them since 1978, which is why it was alongside the Mythical Free Ensemble that Jimmy experienced the freedom to express himself musically with the trombone

On March 11, 1996, Jimmy Bosch debuted with his band at the internationally known S.O.B.’s nightclub. The result was immediate: Publications in the most prestigious newspapers in the Big Apple such as the “New York Times”, praising his excellence and a house full of loyal fans began to crown the dream of this tropical music worker. In this way he becomes a remarkably respected musician and an icon of Latin culture in New York.

His compositions reflect the creativity and depth of who Jimmy Bosch is. He takes his audience on a journey from Bronx-style “funk” to “hot” guajiras, melodious cha-cha-chás, and clearly poetic lyrics awash with feeling. Thus, Jimmy pays tribute to the other teachers who share their presentations generating remembrance and posterity in each one of them.

In 1998, under the Ryko Latino label, his first solo album, “Soneando trombone”, was released. Jimmy included a “Big Band” with renowned Latin virtuoso artists, such as trumpeter Alfredo “Chocolate” Armenteros, bassist Andy González, and singers like Jimmy Sabater and Pete “El Conde” Rodríguez. They played a mix of Latin styles, including “hard sauce,” of which Bosch is one of its greatest exponents. Bosch not only played a virtuoso trombone, but was also the musical director on that recording.

With his recording debut as a solo artist, Bosch scored a definite success on the international scene. In Europe critics welcomed his musical creations. And in the United States, newspapers such as the Los Angeles Times and The New York Times were full of praise for their brilliant performances.

At the beginning of 1999, the popular musician returns to the charts with a new production: “Salsa dura“. In this production, including musicians like Steve Turre and Chucho Valdés, it was as diverse, strong, and tough as his first production. The recording also included songs like I’m Still Changing. For the release of “Salsa dura” the Creole trombonist traveled to Europe and performed on countless stages of the Old Continent.

Persevering in his creativity, in 2004 Bosch received new applause in Puerto Rico, presenting his musical proposal at jazz festivals. His bows have accompanied such important figures in the salsa industry around the planet as the aforementioned Free Ensemble of Manny Oquendo and Andy González, Eddie Palmieri, Ray Barretto, Rubén Blades, India, the Lebron Brothers, La Combinación Perfecta, Cachao, Spanish Harlem Orchestra and Celia Cruz among others. He was the musical director of the outstanding Puerto Rican performer Marc Anthony.

The late creator of the Mambo, Israel “Cachao” López, composed for him the song “Lluvia, viento y caña”. The legendary trombone solo can be heard on the Grammy-winning recording, “Master Sessions Vol. 1” produced by Emilio Estefan and Andy García.

This talented musician stamps his signature with his particular way of playing the trombone, becoming his personal stamp in the music industry. Today, Jimmy Bosch is famous for his explosive solos, full of melody, vibration and funk.

Known by many as “El Trombón Criollo” for the strength of his improvisations, Jimmy radiates his energy to any musical challenge. Jimmy brings us El airplane de la salsa, his latest production, surrounded by high-voltage musicians and soneros.

The road to success for Venezuelan harpist and cultural entrepreneur Ángel Tolosa

Thousands of Venezuelan artists have left the name of the South American nation high in recent years and today we will talk about one of the best harpists of his generation. It is great Angel Tolosa, with whom we had the joy of having a very pleasant exchange in which we touched on certain issues related to his fruitful musical career.

Ángel playing the harp — Venezuelan harpist Ángel Tolosa playing the harp live

Tolosa’s taste for Venezuelan popular and traditional music

Something very important we have to mention about Angel is that he was born in the city of Caracas, Venezuela, so he managed to have a lot of contact with musical genres that were not only Venezuelan, but also from all over the world such as jazz, bossa nova, Cuban son and many others. This gave him a better understanding of music in general and a wider range of genres to choose from.

There are many genres he likes, but without a doubt, Venezuelan music captivated him from the first time he heard it and, as he studied and analyzed it, he became much more aware of everything it had to offer at an artistic level. Ángel claims that ”no one can love what they don’t know”, so he has always been careful to learn as much as he could about Venezuelan music, so his is a knowledge-based love.

Angel and the harp

One advantage that Angel had is that he grew up in a profoundly musical environment, since music was always very important in his home. This led him to get started in folk singing when he was only four years old, which in turn, interested him in the piano and the Venezuelan cuatro. However, what definitely most caught his attention at so early an age until today was the harp, which according to Angel, was part of the life plan that God has for him.

The musician even laughing says he believes that ”instruments are like their owners” since the harp interested him for being peculiar, versatile, elegant and demanding in terms of discipline to be played. These are characteristics that the artist perceives in himself when playing any piece, so he affirms that this is the instrument that most closely resembles his personality and style.

Ángel posing with the harp — Ángel Tolosa posing for the camera with his main instrument, the harp

Ensamble A Contratiempo

When Ángel and his brother José Luis noticed the talent they both had for music and the fabulous combination of what they made in this field, they decided they had to create something together and took the risk of creating Ensamble A Contratiempo, with which they sought to establish a platform on which they could share their musical interests with total freedom and without any restrictions. Angel defines it in short as ”a band with a universal sound, but with well-defined Venezuelan roots”.

Ensamble A Contratiempo’s specialty is the so-called Afro-Venezuelan jazz and blends genres such as jazz, universal music, electronic elements and Afro-Venezuelan roots, resulting in a fresh and original urban sound that leaves no one who might listen to it indifferent.

Something that characterizes this group is that it uses conventional instruments to play in unconventional ways. Ensamble A Contratiempo usually plays the harp, the cuatro, the violin, the bass and Afro-Venezuelan percussion.

Both Ángel and his brother José Luis have enormous prestige and are seen as two of the most prolific art entrepreneurs of their generation and pioneers in the genres in which they perform, so this musical initiative was very well received in all sectors in which it has been heard.

Together, the Tolosa brothers have even been able to design an essential vocabulary for learning to play the Latin harp and even contributed to the redesign of the Venezuelan harp as it was known before them.

Within their extensive discography, we can mention some important titles such as ”Venezuelan Sounds”, ”Katuketi” and ”Ancien Roots”.

Ángel and José Luis — Ángel Tolosa next to his brother, guitarrist José Luis Tolosa

Teaching and Agrupación Oficial de Cultura de la Zona Educativa del Estado Táchira

As if this were not enough, Angel has also worked as a teacher and an important member of the Agrupación Oficial de Cultura de la Zona Educativa del Estado Táchira.

In this regard, Angel explained that he worked for the Venezuelan Education Ministry for more than four years, an experience that helped him to design the educational services he currently offers in his cultural company, which also creates projects for various cultural institutions, universities and art centers around the world.

On the subject of music education, the artist also emphasized that ”this is essential for the cognitive development of each person, the benefits that music has on those who not only have contact with it, but also play it have been demonstrated. Music is so demanding that it drives to have a structured life ruled by profound ethical principles and spirituality”.

Bachelor of arts and ethnomusicology

Angel has said that his Bachelor of Arts has been extremely important for his career as a musician, since from his point of view, ”music is a profession in which all disciplines of the world converge”. Everything he learned during his degree has allowed him to build diverse musical and business concepts under a much more orderly system. This career has offered him the necessary structure for the projects he has started with music, which he appreciates.

In addition to this, Angel has also studied ethnomusicology, which can be defined as an academic area that involves various approaches to the study of music, but with special emphasis on social, cultural, identity aspects and more of this kind. This way of studying and perceiving music combines details that come from folklore, psychology, cultural anthropology and musicology at their most conventional.

On the above, the harpist pointed out that ”Venezuela has a very deep sense of identity” and that the identity of a country is like the face and fingerprint that allows us its distinguishing features and what makes its inhabitants part of a whole. Of course, the typical music of the place is an essential part of what we have said.

Since Angel is a lover of everything about Venezuela, he takes as a starting point his own profession to understand his own country in a much broader and rational sense, which he thinks Venezuelan society should do as a whole. It is necessary to know the concept of nation and of what we are and I don’t see any other road but culture” said the artist on the subject.

It is clear that for the entrepreneur, studying music and its genres from its purest roots is a way to pay homage to the culture which we come from, an example that we should all replicate, even those who are not dedicated to music.

Verano Producciones Colombia with Jimena Verano presents Noel Montano

Latin America / Colombia / Medellin

On this occasion, the promoter Jimena Verano introduced us to the singer and poet “Noel Montano” born in Cuba

Jimena Verano: He began his first artistic activities at a very early age, from the age of 7 he did his first school performance work called “El Sabio y el Boatman”, then at the age of 14 he leaned towards writing, writing poems, poems, among others. At the age of 16 he wrote his first song called “Desecho y Vacio”, which was part of the record production Cruzando Fronteras” by the Uruguayan singer Pablo Alejandro along with three other songs.

Noel entered the world of modeling and acting, in 2001 with the company “Cosmodiva Talents”, he participated in a number of television programs and commercials on different networks such as “Sabana Gigante”, “Dinamitados” (Americateve), among others. After 2 to 4 years, he is invited to join the group Climax from Mexico (table that applauds the most, ZaZaZa), a song that achieves the fame of that group, allowing it to tour various international stages and being winners and multiple nominees for more than 30 awards musicals.

Noel Montano artist interviewed by Jimena Verano

In 2013, Noel published his first book of poetry and reflections “When the soul sings” which can be purchased on Amazon and other online stores. Also that same year he released his first musical single “Apariencias”, which is having a great success. good acceptance internationally.

He is currently working as a composer for different artists and groups inside and outside the USA. He is currently preparing for a media tour in Colombia with the help of Jimena Verano, his promoter VERANOPRODUCCIONES COLOMBIA, who tells us that “Noel Montano came to the artistic world to leave your own legacy

For more information contact them through email: [email protected]

Nicaraguan singer and guitarist Yelba Heaton in an exclusive interview

Yelba Heaton is a Nicaraguan-born bandleader, singer and guitarist whose strong musical heritage coming from her family has made her have close contact with music since before she could say her first words.

The artist based in The Woodlands, Texas has been kind enough to answer a few questions for us in order to know more about her musical beginnings, the creation of her band, her projects outside of music, among other topics.

Yelba posing for pics — Singer and guitarist Yelba Heaton posing for pictures with her instrument

Yelba’s musical family

For many generations, Yelba’s family had become very popular among her acquaintances for knowing how to carry a tune properly and having some guitarists and pianists in this melodic family tree.

In her case, as she grew older, she and her siblings saw their father constantly serenading their mother and playing romantic boleros on his guitar, so this instrument was a day to day affair for the children. This is how the couple’s children began to experiment with music both together and separately, which little by little sparked Yelba’s interest in this branch of the arts.

This interest reached such a point that both she and her sister Thelma began to compete in every talent show that was held at the school they attended, Yelba played the bandurria and Thelma played the guitar. Both of them were very good with each other on stage and their voices joined together in a very harmonious and pleasant way for the audience that heard them.

When she turned nine, she participated in the tv show ”Junior Patherns”, which was very popular in her country at that time. Already at that time, she showed her great skill as an performer and the way she would follow later on.

As she got older, she began to sing in the church she was attending at the time, but could not start her career formally until she became an adult after her divorce in the United States. This was a very stormy phase of life for Yelba, as she had recently separated from her husband and father of her five young children, leading her to suffer from depression and believe that her life was over. However, it was just beginning.

At the same church, she met another guitarist, who when saw the bad stuff that she had gone through, decided to invite her to participate in an open mic night at a nightclub, which Yelba did not even know what it was at the time. Although she confesses to being extremely intimidated by the great artists with whom she shared that night, it was an experience that she is grateful to have had, as it gave her the opportunity to put aside her sadness for one night and experiment with music like she had never done before.

After sitting down with her guitar and performing ”Besame mucho” to the audience that night, having heard those present applause and ask for more songs made her be truly happy and blissful. Immediately, she knew she wanted to experience that feeling again and again.

After her divorce, music brought Yelba back to life

Formal beginning of Yelba in music

That same night that Yelba performed at that venue, Jeremy Garcia, a flamenco guitarist accompanied her with his instrument and resulted in a beautiful combination of melodies that left all those present delighted, including the owner of the place, who proposed to both of them to make a paying gig for next Saturday, to which they replied ”of course”. That was how Yelba, Jeremy and bongo player Benny Rod (Yelba’s friend from church who joined later) started their paid musical careers as a trio.

Over time, the three artists caught the attention of critically acclaimed guitarist Mark Towns, who invited Yelba to sing with him at an event in Clear Lake and also gave him some copies of their CDs. Towns was a key piece in the formal creation of the band and the trust that she was gaining to sing in public.

Over the next few years, she was performing at larger and larger events and learning all she could about clave, song forms of various genres, stage presence and other important aspects of her nascent career.

Creation of Yelba Variety’s Band and Latin Fire

Although Yelba, Jeremy and Benny were already a trio, they still could not find a name that perfectly defined what they stood for, but that changed when one day they performed songs Yelba had learned to sing on her father’s knee when she was little. That night, everything went great and they received very positive feedback from the audience and the media who covered the concert.

As a result of this performance, a reporter from the Houston Chronicle wrote an article about the band in which he was very complimentary about their show and described what he saw that day as ”Latin fire”. The first line of the article said that: ”Latino fire is what I heard last night…”. Yelba liked this opinion so much that she decided to baptize her band as ”Latin Fire”.

Such was the impact this report had on her career that the Nicaraguan still keeps a copy of it and can be found on her website to this day. This was undoubtedly a very important event for her and her band mates.

Yelba and her husband — Yelba next to her husband and part of her band Roy Heaton

Yelba as a wedding planner and motivational speaker

Just like Yelba performs very well in music, she has also found time to work as a wedding planner, a hobby for which she found out she is talented. The artist has assisted numerous marriages with minimum budget, but with her help, she was able to achieve great things with very little money. This is how she has made engaged couples ask for her help and she is always happy to collaborate with them.

Another area in which she works on very well is motivational speaking. She found out she had a talent for this while doing her master’s degree in finance and learned to move in the corporate world, which gave her the necessary experience to address an audience properly. In addition, her career as an artist requires her to sing, play and dance in front of crowds, which also gives her the confidence she needs to speak to all kinds of audiences at a given time.

Without a doubt, Yelba Heaton is a multifaceted Latina who leaves our culture on high and we are proud to have had her in this edition of International Salsa Magazine.