Musical travels and small worlds

In May of this year I spent a few days in New York. Although I was disappointed that I missed seeing my all-time favourite salsa dura musician Eddie Palmieri by one day,  I was pleased to discover that a great Venezuelan timbales player, Luisito Quintero, was performing at the same venue, Subrosa, on the evening of my arrival.

Here’s Luisito in action at Subrosa:

Some more photos I took at the gig; the next image is of Luisito’s brother Roberto Quintero on congas:

Luisito playing his signature timbales:

The flautist:

Last Friday I went to Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in London to see Spanish Harlem Orchestra who are on tour in Europe. Based in the US, Spanish Harlem Orchestra – also known by the acronyn SHO – are a great Latin Jazz/ salsa dura project led by pianist Oscar Hernandez and fronted by three singers. I immediately recognised the vocalist they introduced as their newest lead as the very same guy I’d photographed on flute at Subrosa – Jeremy Bosch, originally from Puerto Rico.

 

My copy of the SHO CD featuring Chick Corea and Joe Lovano –  the artwork depicts  a New York skyline, and the O of the word Orchestra is filled with the Puerto Rican flag. Signed by musical director Oscar Hernandez and dedicated to Mish …

So … a small world.Talking of small worlds; here is the disco mirror ball at Subrosa:

Check out my earlier post on travels with percussion which includes images of Pedrito Martinez and Jhair Sala performing as Subrosa.

 

2 thoughts on “Musical travels and small worlds”

  1. I loved the Spanish Harlem Orchestra at Ronnie’s and Oscar Hernandez, what a hard working, humble musician. He signed everyone’s Cd’s. A shame Luisito Quintero was not playing though, although the timbal player was great and looked not unlike a Latino Jim Le Messurier

    Reply
    • Yes, I loved them too. And it would be fun to do a “compare and contrast” with their substitute timbal player and Jim … I thought he looked familiar!

      Reply

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