Theo Saunders or/ Serge Kasimov- piano;
John B. Williams or/Edwin Livingston - bass;
Robertito Melendez - congas;
Pablo Calogero or Frank Fontaine- flute and tenor sax;
Dan Weinstein - trombone and violin;
Jud Matos - percussion;
and
occasional special guests :Larry Harlow - piano,Candi Sosa-vocals,Sal Marquez -trumpet & flugelhorn,
Influences
Mongo Santamaria, Cal Tjader, Eddie Palmieri, Tito Puente, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, Machito, Mario Bauza, Dizzy, Gil Evans, Fort Apache, Art Blakey, Horace Silver, Sabu Martinez, Sonny Rollins, Patato, Orestes Vilato, Willie Bobo, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner, Armando Peraza, Ray Armando, Ray Barretto, Babatunde Olatunji, Chief Bey, Pucho, Louie Ramirez, Marty Sheller, Eric Dolphy, Mingus, and much much more...
Sounds Like
Modern and modal Jazz and Cuban Charanga all blended together with influences from Tito Puente, Jerry Gonzalez, Eddie Palmieri, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, John Santos, Ray Barretto, Art Blakey,Mongo Santamaria, Wayne Shorter,Larry Harlow, and more.
" Bobby has a loser, jazzier take on the Afro-Cuban sound, and his bunch really gets grooving. Great Stuff."
-L.A.Weekly, December 15-21, 2006
Bronx born Bobby Matos began playing music beating on pots and pans in Grandma’s apartment and went on to backstage informal lessons with conga drum masters Patato Valdez and Mongo Santamaria; and composition and arranging studies at Manhattan School of Music. His first gigs were in the early ˜60’s “beat '" bohemian “ Greenwich Village Cafes, but he soon found himself playing in every type of venue; from Bronx dance halls to Carnegie Hall, to elegant supper clubs, Central Park Concerts, Off Broadway theaters, and ˜After Hours” clubs in El Barrio ...................................................................... ............................................................................................................................................After touring and recording with artists like Ben Vereen, Bette Midler, Fred Neil, Jim Croce, Ray Rivera, Joe Loco, Miriam Makeeba, and many others, Bobby relocated to Los Angeles where he began experimenting with an Afro Cuban Jazz band where he could blend (and bend) musical elements from Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Tito Puente, Mongo Santamaria, Wayne Shorter, Eddie Palmieri, and the rich legacy of Afro Cuban music. .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................. In the “80’s and ˜90’s, he recorded several albums, most notably 5 well received CDs for Ubiquity Records’ “Cubop” label, and began touring internationally. During this time, he received 2 performance grants from the City of Los Angeles, and also received The California Arts Council multi Cultural Entry level grant for 9 years. He also began touring schools under the banners of “Music Center on Tour’,“Performing Tree”, “Great Leap”,and “Grammys in the Schools” where he conducted educational performances, master classes, and workshops. In 1999 he won an award from the “L.A. Weekly Music Awards” and in 2004 an award from “Latin Beat magazine”. During these years he also composed and performed music for dancer/choreographers Donna Sternbeg, Denise Cook, and Noboko Myamoto. He also produced recordings for Ray Armando, Dave Pike, Pucho and the Latin Soul Brothers, Jack Costanzo, Jerry Gonzalez, and John Santos.
he has also received an Artist in Residence Grant to run a series of classes and workshops, and conduct a Latin jazz Youth Band in L.A .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................Also in 2004, he released the critically acclaimed "MADE BY HAND", a live recording on the well known artists’ collective label Life Force Jazz Records. “ACKNOWLEDEGEMENT”, Bobby’s next release on Life Force Jazz Records contains nine original compositions and three Afro Latin arrangements of John Coltrane compositions, along with an updated band that features power players like Theo Saunders - piano; John B. Williams or Edwin Livingston on bass; Robertito Melendez - congas; Frank Fontaine - flute and tenor sax; Dan Weinstein - trombone and violin; and Bobby's son Jud on percussion .............................................................................................................................................................................................................
Bobby’s newest CD release (2009) for LifeForce Jazz, “UNITY”, focuses mostly on originals that have come from the members of the band. They continue to tour the international festival and cabaret circuit today.Ubiquity records has also released a "BEST OF BOBBY MATOS (the Ubiquity years) last summer. Bobby's music is available on cdbaby.com
Bobby Matos & his Afro Latin Jazz Ensemble's Friend Space (Top 32)
Bobby Matos & his Afro Latin Jazz Ensemble has 1275 friends.
Thanks so much for the Add–and your friendship. We enjoyed your music very much. Thanks for sharing it with all of us. It's a pleasure having you among our friends! We've just added two new blogs about Umano, plus four more new compositions, making ten on our space. We hope you and your friends visit us and enjoy our music, too. We wake up every morning and play the music of the new MySpace friends who have arrived at our site during the night. It occurred to us that these friends (you are among them) are almost universally positive, whether they be novices or legends, and without regard to their station in life or the country they occupy. Although it's not an original thought, it also occurred to us that we couldn’t hold a verbal conversation with most of these friends, but we have bridged that gap by expressing our art honestly with each other. We all have been filling the world with our music and art, in the hope that our messages of love and human understanding will have an impact on the world at large. What a gift and what an opportunity we have received from this technology!
Thanks for being a friend of the Spanglish Band and for giving us great comments on the band. Good luck to you in your future endeavors...keep up the good work!
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