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afro-cuban keystones
Omar Sosa and John Santos
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Omar Sosa with Tim Erikson Sugar Baby Blues
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John Santos & the Machete Ensemble A Los Bailadores
artist personnel
omar sosa afreecanos quartet omar sosa piano, fender rhodes, electronics, vocals tim eriksen vocals mola sylla vocals, m'bira, xalam, kongoman eric crystal saxophone childo thomas electric bass, kalimba, vocals marcus gilmore drums, electronics
john santos sextet john calloway flute melecio magdaluyo saxophones marco diaz piano saul sierra bass david flores drums john santos percussion
Omar Sosa Quartet featuring Tim Eriksen John Santos Sextet Pre-Concert Talk with John Santos thursday, october 22, 7:30 PM herbst theatre
$25| $45| $65 Premium seat map buy tickets
Note: Omar Sosa will precede John Santos.

A double dose of Afro-Caribbean soul pairs two of the most high profile bandleaders in Latin American music. Born in the city of Camagüey, Cuban pianist Omar Sosa arrived in the Bay Area in 1995 after two years in Ecuador, providing a jolt of creative energy to the local scene while honing an unprecedented blend of sacred Afro-Cuban chants, Ecuadoran rhythms, hip-hop and post-bop improvisation. Based in Barcelona for the past decade, Sosa expands his musical travelogue on the Latin Grammy nominated album Across the Divide, incorporating old-time American sounds from Appalachia. Tim Eriksen, the leading proponent of “northern roots,” joins Sosa on fiddle, banjo, guitar and vocals for a unique global gumbo.

Next up on stage, Sosa shares the bill with percussionist John Santos, a frequent collaborator who has been a galvanizing force on the Bay Area Latin music scene since the mid-1970s. A visionary bandleader, producer and educator, Santos is a four-time Grammy® Award-nominee who is always looking to make new connections between Afro-Caribbean musical forms. Over the past three decades, he’s performed and recorded with many of the giants in jazz and Latin music, including Cachao, Dizzy Gillespie, Tito Puente, Bebo Valdés, Eddie Palmieri, Francisco Aguabella, Max Roach and Chocolate Armenteros. Lately Santos has focused on his beautifully calibrated sextet, which showcases some of the region’s finest Latin jazz musicians.

“Sosa’s pianisms evoke echoes of McCoy Tyner’s power, Keith Jarrett’s improvisational flights of fancy, and Thelonious Monk’s angular harmonies transforming the piano into 88 well-tuned drums.” the village voice “John Santos is…the Latin music renaissance man.” san francisco chronicle