Con Tumbao w/ Issac Delgado

This week on Fridays Live, we go back a bit into the SFJAZZ “time-machine” and broadcast a memorable 2022 performance featuring the debut of Issac Delgado's all-star CON TUMBAO project. For this concert, the GRAMMY-nominated vocalist and songwriter leads a hard-hitting nine-piece ensemble made up of many of the greatest Latin jazz musicians working today.

Issac Delgado shows a younger generation of salseros how to do true, romantic salsa: with poetry, elan and style.

Chicago Tribune

ABOUT ISSAC DELGADO
One of Cuba’s most famous stars and a respected musical innovator, GRAMMY-nominated vocalist Issac Delgado made his Miner Auditorium debut in June 2022, with his all-star CON TUMBAO project featuring pianist Oscar Hernández, bassist and vocalist Alain Pérez, drummer Robby Ameen, conga and percussionist Pedrito Martínez, timbalist Tony Succar, saxophonist Bob Franceschini, trumpeters Mike Rodríguez and Juan Munguía, and trombonist Conrad Herwig.

As lead singer of the wildly influential group NG La Banda in the late 1980s, Delgado helped pioneer the timba style (Havana’s tough, funky take on salsa). A dazzling live performer who was mentored by legendary Cuban jazz pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Delgado has continually rewritten the rules of Caribbean dance music, constantly playing with time and tempo, employing jazz-inspired passages and mixing in cutting edge rhythms and avant-garde electronics. He defected to the U.S. over a decade ago, but recently returned to Havana where his fame has only increased over the years.

Delgado’s 2019 Tropix Music release, Lluvia Y Fuego (Rain and Fire), brilliantly showcased the effect of his return to his homeland and a re-investment in traditional song forms. Now with Tumbao, the vocalist and songwriter leads a hard-hitting nine-piece ensemble made up of many of the greatest Latin jazz musicians working today.