Search Results for: Pianist

Sitara Son Cuban – Latin Band

North America / USA / Angeles

Sitara Son - Integrants — Sitara Son – Integrants

Master percussionist and singer, Maestro Lázaro Galarraga is a native of Havana, Cuba, now living in Los Angeles. He was a founding member of the premier Cuban music troupe, Conjunto Folklorico Nacional de Cuba (1961-62, 1977-82) A world-renowned teacher, performing artist, choreographer and writer of Afro-Cuban music, culture and folklore, he has recorded, performed and taught across the U.S. and worldwide. He is also regarded as one of the great ‘Akpons’ or lead singers in the Afro-Cuban religious traditions and a master of the bata drums.

Guitarist/Vocalist, Jon-Oliver Knight is an accomplished classical guitarist who has toured extensively throughout the US, Central America, Mexico and Europe. He has played countless wedding ceremonies, cocktail hours and receptions and epitomizes the flexibility required to be a wedding guitarist. Jon-O is also in demand for his Vocals and plays sitar (Indian) and cuatro (Puerto Rican) in the band as well.

Bobby Wilmore’s is an incredibly well seasoned percussionist. From drum set to congas, bongos, or anything that Bobby can find that will make a noise, he is sure to captivate with his precision and creativity behind the drum. Bobby is one of the busiest percussionists in California with his unique “good vibes” personality and his astounding rhythmic ability and passion.

Pianist extraordinaire, Matt Amper is not only one of the most sought after Latin pianists on the west coast, but is also an accomplished Jazz and Classical pianist. Matt’s musicality is preceded by his need to dive deeper and deeper into exploring and perfecting his craft which many would say has already reached perfection!

Josiel Perez has performed and toured all over the world with some of the best bands out there. He currently plays Trumpet with SitaraSon among other La based bands. A wizard with his countless percussion instruments, Josiel brings that same skill and creativity to the Latin side.

Together these accomplished musicians form a Band that will astound and captivate you, leaving you wanting more.

What a pleasure to talk to Pablo Pérez ‘‘El Alcalde de La Salsa’’

It is a pleasure to talk to Latin music artists who have left our genres in a high place all over the world and today it is the turn of the great American producer, composer and percussionist Pablo Perez, also known as ”El Alcalde de La Salsa”, who we were lucky enough to interview to know his fascinating story with music. We say to our dear readers that they cannot miss it.

Pablo playing — Pablo Pérez ”El Alcalde de La Salsa” playing the bongos live

How Pablo became interested in music

From the beginning, Pablo made it very clear that since his childhood he has been interested in music, to the point of beginning to study it at school, as his taste was great since then. To what we must add that the time when he grew up in Trenton, New Jersey, was marked by a total command of salsa, which greatly influenced the young boy. However, he clarifies that he liked all types of genres like ballads, boleros, cha cha chá, merengue, classical music, among others.

He grew up listening to all sorts of artists and groups such as La Fania All Stars, Ray Barretto, Willie Colón, Johnny Pacheco, Spanish Harlem Orchestra and many others. To some extent, all of them have influenced the style he applies to his own work today.

World traveler

Throughout all this process of being involved with music and learning what he knows today, he came to live in a lot of Latin countries like Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Ecuador, Argentina, Panama, Costa Rica, among others. During all these travels and stays, Pablo dedicated himself at all times to play and present his music to the populations of those places.

In the same way, each of these places has given something new to his style and, in them, he was able to hear new versions of other songs that he knew before. He himself did a new version of the llanera song ”Quierela más que yo” by Venezuelan singer Luis Silva, making it into a salsa song and giving it his own touch. ”I’ve always wanted people to connect with me through my music and I’m always looking to do new, danceable and interesting things,” Pablo said on the subject.

The artist has always liked to mix different sounds and instruments, so he had the idea of creating a trombone orchestra (the first instrument of his career) and seing how it worked. Finally, this group included two trombones, two trumpets and a baritone in order to obtain a bigger sound, helping with a ”baby bass” (an electric double bass model designed by Ampeg), and a piano.

Pablo in the studio — Pablo Pérez recording in the studio

The Pablo Pérez Project and Orquesta Yanes

Although it is true that Pablo’s first major project was The Pablo Pérez Project in 2005, prior to that, he already had a group called Orquesta Yanes (2001), with which he recorded two albums back then. During that time, what was used were LPs and cassettes, one of them being a recording made in Belgium (country where he also lived) and called ”Pablo Pérez con el paisaje latino”. This was the same name of a group he created with local and Latin European musicians in Europe.

At the same time, the musician was also part of other orchestras in his native New Jersey as well as in Puerto Rico and some of them were ”El Nuevo Sonido”, ”Paquito Y Su Tumbao”, ”Peligro” and many others.

Time in Belgium

One of the most important events in Pablo’s career during his time in Europe was his involvement in the album ”Algo Diferente” by Mexican musician Héctor Islas y Su Pachuco 21. The artist referred to Islas as a very good person and a great singer whom he met in the aforementioned country and it was not long before they worked together.

Hector invited him to join his orchestra as a timbalero and they both toured the rest of Europe together, taking their music to anyone who wanted to listen to them in those territories. Later, the Mexican went to Cuba to make a series of recordings in which he asked Pablo to play the bongos.

During their tours, they were able to play alongside El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico, Jerry Rivera, Original de Manzanillo, Sin Damas, La Fania All Stars, La India and many more.

Pablo and Luis — Luis González ”El Tsunami de La Salsa” next to Pablo Pérez

El Alcalde de la Salsa

A very interesting facet Pablo had was that of a politician in 2014, when he ran for mayor of Trenton, New Jersey. Although targets were not met, the artist explains that this decision to compete gave him many positive experiences with the community.

One of the biggest endorsements he received at the time came from Willie Colón, whom he had known for many years. When the trombonist asked Pablo about his motivations for running for office, he replied that what he wanted was to help the community from a better position. That is when Colón nicknamed him ”El Alcalde de La Salsa” (The Mayor of Salsa), which Pablo liked so much that he decided to use it for the rest of his career.

It is worth mentioning that he also received the endorsement of Tito Nieves during his aspirations for political office.

Music played a crucial role in the campaign events, since the artist’s orchestra was very attractive to people, especially for the fundraisers that Pablo and his team carried out. Likewise, it was a good tool for the former candidate to connect with the community, especially the Latino community.

It was in this same period that he made contact for the first time with his current bassist and arranger Michael Colón, pianist Efraín ”Juanito” Dávila and other musicians with whom he was able to form his orchestra, which helped him a lot during his political career to gain the sympathy and attention of people.

When asked if he would be interested in running for public office, he assured that this stage of his life is over and that he prefers to concentrate solely on music for now.

Willie and Pablo — Willie Colón endorsing Pablo Pérez’s campaign

Letty Sandoval The Golden Diva of Salsa in New York.

Latin America / Venezuela / Caracas

Letty Sandoval, a Venezuelan singer who has lived in New Jersey for more than 20 years, currently performs at private events in The Big Apple performing her repertoire, and her two recent promotional singles ¨Only You¨ a Musical Production and Arrangement by the Trumpeter. Cuban Agustín Someillan García and as a special guest the Venezuelan Pianist Juan Pulía Liendo Hernández and with them the outstanding Percussionist Luis Mangual from New York in the Bongo, his second single ¨Pesar¨ a Composition of the Arranger, Pianist and Guitarist the Dominican Rafael ¨Bullumba¨ Landestoy Duluc, and again Juan Pulia Liendo Hernández in Production, Direction and Arrangement.

¨Sandovaleando¨

Letty Sandoval - Photo — Letty Sandoval – Photo

Joshua Levine and his quartet have a lot of Guataca

Joshua Levine, artistically known as Josh Levine, is one of so many examples of Americans who, without having any type of Latin roots, fall under the charm of our beautiful music and do not hesitate to make it their way of life. That is why we wanted to talk to Josh, born in New York City, a little more about his career and what brought him to where he is today.

Josh posing with his double bass — Bandleader and bassist Josh Levine posing with his double bass

Josh’s beginnings in music

The first instrument that drew Josh’s attention as a child was the piano, as his babysitter was a piano teacher and offered him some lessons to satisfy his curiosity. The interesting thing is that his teaching was more focused on the ear than on reading music as such, showing that there are musicians perfectly capable of playing without needing a musical score.

However, like any child, he began to have other interests such as skating, to which he devoted much of his time back then. About 10 or 11 years later, his father, who was a great jazz fan, used to listen to this genre at home frequently, to the point that the young man once again felt that passion for what he had practiced so many years ago and began to listen a little more intently to the artists his father enjoyed.

Seeing his son’s growing taste for jazz, Josh’s father decided to take him to a concert featuring Cedar Walton’s piano trio with Ron Carter on bass and Billy Higgins on drums. He was so impressed by their performance that he decided to study bass that same day, as at the time it seemed to him the most understandable and easiest instrument to learn because of its few notes at once.

He got so good that he even became part of his high school band, a group from where great artists emerged including Carlos Henriquez, a great musical luminary who has worked with Celiz Cruz, Eddie Palmieri and Ruben Blades and is the current bass player for the Jazz At Lincoln Center Orchestra.

Interest in Latin music

For those same years, Josh also learned Spanish and clarified that he does not have any Latin ancestry, so this was not the motive behind his interest in this music. However, he grew up in a neighborhood in Manhattan where many Latino families lived, especially Caribbeans from Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Cuba.

Josh and Jainardo — Josh Levine next to Puerto Rican singer and percussionist Jainardo Batista

Meanwhile, he was also studying biology in college and a little jazz and classical music. Upon graduation, by pure chance, he met a young Venezuelan musician named Roberto Fuentes, who was the director of Alpargata Cantorum (a very famous Venezuelan musical comedy and theater group in the 70s), who wanted to form a band with him and a few other musicians. Fuentes showed Josh a lot of Venezuelan folkloric music, taught him to play cuatro and made him listen to several songs typical of Venezuelan music such as ”Barlovento”, ”El Alma Llanera”, ”La Vaca Mariposa”, ”Pajarillo Verde” and many more.

As for classic salsa, he made him listen to Ismael Rivera, Rubén Blades, Willie Colón and many others.

Other groups Josh was in

Having been in the group with Fuentes gave him what he needed to make contact with many other groups, including that of José Luis Martínez, who was very close to Juan Carlos Formell Sr. Thanks to Martinez he learned a great deal about Cuban music, the way Cuban son is played on the bass, the pronunciation of words in the Cuban dialect, among other things.

His big break came when he met Jainardo Batista, whom he was a big fan of when he was in his band Nu Guajiro (or Nu D’lux, as it would end up being called). It turns out that Josh went every Sunday to hear them play at the club where they were at the time and, after 10 years of following their music, they finally invited him to play with them.

After a while, the group disbanded, but Josh and Jainardo did not lose touch. And not only that, but they continued playing together and had the idea of forming something new.

Jainardo, Jeremy, Gabriel, and Josh — Percussionist Jainardo Batista, flautist Jeremy Bosch, Pianist Gabriel Chakarji, and bassist Josh Levine

Cuarteto Guataca

Cuarteto Guataca was born when Josh and Jainardo decided to form a new group after the breakup of Nu D’lux and counted with the participation of Dominican arranger, composer and tres player Román Lajara and Puerto Rican producer, composer and flutist Jeremy Bosch. He describes them both as musical prodigies, to the point of telling us that Lajara was the representative of the Cuban tres as an instrument at the 2024 National Jazz Day in Morocco.

Josh, Jainardo, Román and Jeremy were the members of the original quartet, but they did not play for a living because it was not enough, but as a sort of part-time job. For the same reason, the four of them also worked on other projects at the same time, as is usually the way with New York today.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, they started playing in city parks to earn some tips during the quarantine, leading their audiences to grow tremendously and many venues began to hire them to play in their open spaces. At a time when musicians were out of work, they had events at least six out of seven days to a week.

This led to them to be ready to get in a studio for the first time and record their first album, which was released in 2022 and is available on all digital platforms for all to enjoy. It should be noted that Román was not playing as often with Cuarteto Guataca, so he was replaced by Venezuelan producer, composer and pianist Gabriel Chakarji until he got back some time later.

Swedish dancer Molly Hagman made it in Europe and now in New York

Undoubtedly, Latin music continues to enslave hearts around the world and the protagonist of this story is a reliable proof of it. It has been such a great honor for us to have known the story of Swedish professional dancer Molly Hagman, who has shared with us the most important facts about her career and how she has reached the point she is at today.

How Molly became interested in dancing in her home country

Nice and jovial Molly was describing in detail everything she has done in her career, thus answering most questions we had for her. She began by telling us that her dance studies began when she was still very young. Being only 15 years old, her best friend at the time convinced her to enroll in the Malmoe Dance Academy in the Swedish city of Malmö, to learn from instructors who introduced her to genres such as jazz, hip hop, contemporary music and ballet.

Two years later, when she was sufficiently prepared, she began experimenting with salsa and auditioning for women’s dance teams, one of them being the group Bellasitas, Molly and Maddy being the first two original members. Once the team was complete, they began to perform in congresses throughout Europe such as the Berlin Salsa Festival, the Hamburg Salsa Festival, the Copenhagen Salsa Festival, the Stockholm Salsa Weekend at the Capitol Stockholm in Sweden, the Scandinavian Salsa Congress, the Love Dance Festival, among many others.

Activity outside Europe

By the year 2014, the young woman studied a year of commercial dance at the International Dance Academy in Copenhagen, Denmark. As part of her education, she was able to travel to Los Angeles to train at the Millenium Dance Complex studio, where she remained for about three months and shared with some of its choreographers such as Gustavo Vargas, Jojo Gomez, Yanis Marshall, Tricia Miranda and many more. That time was enough for her to know that her destiny was the United States and that eventually she would like to live there. And she did.

Molly at the Malmoe Dance Academy — Molly when she was studying at the Malmoe Dance Academy during her teenage years

Some time later, more specifically in 2016, Molly moved to New York to study dance at Broadway Dance Center and the possibility to meet the best salsa instructors, many of whom were in that city. It is there where she made contact with Franklin Diaz, with whom she was dancing for a few months in a number of events, until joining the Yamulee Dance Company in the Bronx. She danced for that dance company for about six years, that is, until the year 2022.

During her time with Yamulee, she was able to participate in all kinds of events all over New York, Florida, Trinidad and Tobago and other places.

It is during this time that her passion for Latin music developed even more, since practically those whom she interacted with listened to salsa, merengue, bachata and reggaeton and the great majority of Yamulee’s members were Dominicans who gave much importance to their heritage. As mentioned before, Molly had already had contact with these genres, but this constant exposure only reinforced her decision to continue along this path.

Solo career

In 2022, Molly felt ready to start her career as an independent dancer thanks to all the training previously received. Since then, she has worked with her current dance partner ”Vittico La Magia” with whom she has performed in numerous festivals such as the New York International Salsa Festival in 2023 and 2024, the BIG Salsa Festival in the same years and the New York SBKZ Congress last year.

Molly in Harlem — Molly posing for the camera in the Graffiti Hall Of Fame, Harlem

She also told us that she was starring in the official music video for the latest song my Thalia and Los Angeles Azules – “Yo Me Lo Busque” that already has over 1.2 million views after being out for only 5 days! What was an incredible experience and dancing for such big artists. Similarly, she has participated as a dancer for several concerts by Dominican artist Yiyo Sarante in New York and New Jersey before thousands of people who enjoyed her great talent. She also danced with Grupo Niche and La India in some of their shows.

Additionally, she has been interviewed by important shows such as The Art Of Fashion TV, which was broadcast through the Manhattan Neighborhood Network and exposed to millions of viewers, giving Molly the opportunity to make herself known to a much larger and diverse audience.

Her role as a dance teacher

Molly has been teaching dance since she was in Sweden on some occasions, but where she further gained experience was in New York, which is when she has developed all her skills through the private lessons she today offers. She says that this is an area of her work that she really enjoys very much because it gives her the opportunity to teach other young people what she herself learned at the time and this satisfies her enormously. The need to create a new choreography for each class invites her to be more creative and to keep the interest of her students with new dances in each session.

Ms. Hagman has also completed with Malmoe Dance Academy’s professional dance teams on the Swedish national talent competition “TALANG”, (“This is Talent”) where she and her team won First Place. Talang is the Swedish reiteration of the Got Talent series. Talang features singers, dancers, comedians, variety acts and other performers competing against each other for audience votes and prize money. It’s a nationally recognized dance competition which was broadcasted on Swedish national television and to viewers around the world.