Who knew that D.C. had its very own Cuban timba and salsa band?  Yep, Orquesta Ashe, led by Cuban Aramis Pazos Barrera will be at the Left Bank in Adams Morgan tonight.  Timba is a modern Cuban brand of salsa that adds funk beats and hornwork to the traditional clave rhythm.  Barrera was a dancer in Cuba’s National Modern Dance Company and a guest artist with the Bolshoi Ballet in 1988.  In DC he has taught dancing at Danceplace and percussion in schools. His international band (3 singers, 3 percussionists, bass, piano, sax, flute, trombone, and trumpet) includes members from Senegal and Cape Verde as well as locals like noted percussionist Sam Turner (a New Yorker who played with Lionel Hampton and on boogaloo records but who’s been in DC for awhile).  I haven’t seen them yet, but their background sounds promising.

Friday June 5  Orquesta Ashe at 11:30 p.m. (and dance lessons at 10:30) at Leftbank, 2424 18th St NW, DC. (202) 464-2100; $12, age 21 +

There’s a big Southern soul show outdoors at the grounds of  Lamonts, in Pomonkey, Maryland near the Wilson Bridge,  today, Saturday, at 2 p.m. featuring veteran r’n’b performer Clarence Carter (“Patches,” Slip Away,”and “Strokin’ fame), Roy C. ,  Miss Jody , locals the Hardway Connection and more.  You won’t find this event in the listings in the Washington City Paper, the Washington Post, or Brightest Young Things.  Online I could only find one mention, a Ticketmaster link.  I first heard about this show via a flyer I picked up at a big Southern Soul gig at the Showplace Arena I wrote up here a little while back. The Saturday afternoon WPFW 89.3 blues and soul programs have also mentioned the concert.  However, Lamonts has no website. Once when I called there, Lamont himself said he would mail me flyers. Yes, mail as in postal snail-mail.  According to WPFW, Saturday will be Miss Jody’s first local appearance.  This Mississippi vocalist’s 2008 cd I Never Take a Day Off was one of my faves for the year. While lyrics like “I’ll be your part-time lover but not your fulltime fool” may be formulaic, there is no denying the upbeat catchiness and sassy melodic power of “It’s the Weekend,” “Lonely Housewife,” and “Miss Jody’s Thing.”

Read More “Live Southern Soul Saturday and Sunday” »

It is a busy month for live reggaeton, Latin pop, and tropical sounds. On Thursday May 14, veteran Puerto Rican rapper Voltio will prove at Terra Mare that there’s more to reggaeton than just Daddy Yankee.  Voltio’s been rapping for years.  On his 2007 En Lo Claro cd he flows in Spanish over salsa and other island sounds in addition to the steady, insistent beat of reggaeton.  Below is a list of May’s impressive live events:

May 14-Voltio at 10 at Terra Mare, 6108 Arlington Blvd., Falls Church, VA
May 15-Zion y Lennox (reggaeton) at Fur, 33 Patterson St. NE
Fri. May 22-Bio Ritmo (salsa and funk) at the Rock n Roll Hotel, H. St NE
Sat. May 23-Tito El Bambino (reggaeton) at the Star Lounge, 7203 Little River Tpke, Annandale, VA
Thurs. May 28-Arcangel (reggaeton, r’n’b, pop) at Ibiza, 1222 First St. NE
Fri. May 29-Gilberto Santa Rosa and Victor Manuelle (salsa singers) at the Patriot Center in Fairfax, VA

While this weekend’s Sharon Jones and the Dapkings shows have attracted the attention of this paper, the Washington Post’s Going Out Gurus, and NBC4’s online self-proclaimed music snob, listeners to Saturday blues and soul programming on WPFW and to quiet storm sounds on WHUR are hearing about a different soul show.  The Mother’s Day Soul Jam Saturday night at the Showplace Arena in Upper Marlboro features five classic ‘70s era soul acts–the Stylistics, Dramatics, The Manhattans, The Chi-Lites, and Cuba Gooding, Sr. & the Main Ingredient.   I have seen them all in recent years at such locations as Constitution Hall, Fort Dupont, the Showplace Arena or Carter Barron, and my fave is the Stylistics.

Only two of the current members of this Philly combo may be original members, but in recent live appearances they still brilliantly captured the original outfit’s high notes lead with backing harmony technique. Expect the current incarnation to smoothly step back and forth onstage in cleverly choreographed fashion and wow the audience with versions of  such r’n’b hits of theirs as  “Stop, Look, Listen (to Your Heart),” “Break Up to Make Up,”  and “Betcha by Golly Wow.”  Their brightly colored, matching throwback suits will help capture the past as well.  While it may not be like hearing them in 1970, seeing them live even this many years later helps add to my appreciation of what they accomplished.  Less raucous than the late ’60s feel Sharon Jones goes for, but it still sounds good.

“Mother’s Day Soul Jam” Saturday May 9 at 8 p.m. at the Showplace Arena,14900 Pennsylvania Ave, Upper Marlboro, MD

There is a dumb expression I have heard people use, “those who can’t do, teach.”  No one who says that must be familiar with Bobby Sanabria.  This Fort Apache in the South Bronx-raised drummer has been playing and teaching wonderfully for years.  I have never taken a class with him, but thanks to seeing him perform, and seeing the video he made on the clave beat for the Smithsonian’s “Latin Jazz: La Combinación Perfecta” exhibit, I have a good idea how entertaining and educational that would be.  Sanabria, a Puerto Rican-American drummer and percussionist who attended the Berklee College of Music,  made the musical history dvd “From Mambo to Hiphop” and has played with Dizzy Gillespie, Tito Puente and his own bands and orchestra,  will be bringing his small group Quarteto Aché  down from New York City to the area tonight. A son of the late ‘60s and the ‘70s, expect Sanabria to offer Cuban-rooted rhythms, bop and more style improvisations and charts, Zappa-esque rock, rural Puerto Rican traditions, soul, and salsa.

 Saturday April 25-Bobby Sanabria & Quarteto Ache at 8 pm at Harmony Hall Regional Center, 10701 Livingston Road, Ft. Washington, MD
301-203-6040; Tickets: $15 general admission; $15 students & senior citizens. Directions:  From the Capital Beltway (I-495), take Exit 3A (Indian Head Highway) South. Follow Indian Head Highway (Route 210) South for approximately four miles and make a right onto Fort Washington Road. Make the next right turn onto Livingston Road. The center is on the left. All ages. welcome.
Tickets: $15 general admission; $15 students & senior citizens

Miami-based Cuban-American rapper Pitbull performs at Ibiza tonight, touring in support of his chart-climbing, video-fave single “I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho).”  Mr. 305’s parents may have made him memorize the works of Cuban poet José Martí, and he may have a few socio-political songs on albums such as “El Muriel” and “The Boatlift,” but his emphasis is on odes to women and uh, parts of women, over fast-tempoed blends of Miami bass, crunk, hiphop, techno and reggaeton.  “Want Me” is a straight-ahead club dance number with a bilingual 1,2,3, 4 countoff, a touch of acoustic guitar, and a sampled beat that first appeared in  a  ’90s techno song, “The Bomb.”

Pitbull at 9 p.m. Thursday April 23 at Ibiza, 1222 First Street NE, Washington, DC

As Michael J. West noted here nearly a month ago, the Library of Congress’s Larry Appelbaum has been presenting jazz and jazz-related films on Wednesdays for free throughout the month of April in the sixty seat Mary Pickford Theater (3rd floor of the Library’s James Madison building).  This is a quick reminder that tonight, Wednesday April 22, the Library will be showing the 2006 documentary “New Orlean Music in Exile,” with director Robert Mugge on hand to introduce the 113 minute film that includes blues, soul, brass band, jazz, and rock musicians.

Read More “Reminder-”New Orleans Music in Exile” Wednesday Night at the Library of Congress” »

This weekend offers up a number of ways to soak up the musical history of salsa and to dance to it as well. Friday night and Saturday afternoon “Celia the Queen,” will be showing as part of Filmfest D.C. Justin Moyer favorably reviewed this documentary on the late, flamboyant reina de salsa, Celia Cruz, for the Washington City Paper. While I have not seen it yet, if it captures the excitement of the gigs I saw this friendly Cuban powerhouse give, and offers a look at the wigs and shoes that were in the Smithsonian exhibit on her a little while back, it will certainly be worth it.
Read More “School Yourself on Salsa This Weekend” »

On March 19th while many local music fans were in Austin at South by Southwest, or were wishing they were there at that mostly rock-centric gathering, others were getting ready to happily attend DC’s 2nd annual Forward Festival, a techno/electronic dance music and more event.  I recently e-mailed one of the event’s organizers, David Fogel of 88.   In addition to the festival, 88 has been bringing djs to the Muse Lounge, 717 6th St. NW, on Thursdays and to Loda at the Gallery, 1115 East-West Highway, in Silver Spring on Fridays.

 1.When did 88 start?  Who did you found it with?
+++ Myself and Albert Sohn officially started 88 in 2005.

 
2. Did you founders grow up in this area, or come here more recently or something else?
+++ Albert and I both grew up in the DC Met, and love this place.

3. Were you pleased with the way the 2nd Forward Fest worked out?
 
+++ Most definitely. That isn’t to say that there aren’t aspects to improve upon and ideas that we had that we’re looking forward to implementing next year. However, the fact that we brought artists from 3 different countries, the west-coast, east-coast and the mid-west to perform with some of our local favorites was great. Forward was another step in helping put DC on the electronic music and digital creatives map. We received nothing but positive feedback from the artists we worked with and most important, the people that came out. 
Read More “Q & A: 88’s David Fogel on their Techno/Electronic Dance Events” »

“I used to be a younger one and now I am one of the older ones,” said 55-year-old Juan de Marcos Tuesday night to a mostly full Strathmore as he was introducing his band, the Afro-Cuban All Stars. Marcos’s age comment was a reference to the Buena Vista Social Club, whom he helped put together and played with in the 1990s. Marcos, who conducts, arranges, and plays the tres (a small guitar-like instrument) had toured and recorded with a version of the Afro-Cuban All Stars back then that included a mixture of old and younger Cubans who played traditional Cuban dance ala Buena Vista but with a few more modern touches. After being unable to get past Bush era visa restrictions, Marcos has put together a new 14-member All Stars that include Cuban musicians mostly in their 30s and 40s who live around the world and could obtain visas to play in the States.

Read More “Afro-Cuban All Stars at the Music Center at Strathmore” »