Directed by ex-Sierra Maestra drummer Juan De Marcos Gonzalez, the Afro-Cuban All Stars have been essential to the growing worldwide popularity of Afro-Cuban music. Their 1997 album, A Toda Cuba Le Gusta, was the first to be recorded during the now-legendary Buena Vista Social Club sessions. A multi-generational big band, with members ranging in... [+] Read More

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Beny Moré is the greatest singer of popular music Cuba has ever produced. Think Frank Sinatra or Nat "King" Cole and you'll get an idea of how he's perceived in Cuba, and how he should be regarded elsewhere. In the 40 years since his death, no Cuban vocalist has emerged to fill his shoes, and he remains as close as ever to the hearts of the... [+] Read More

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Less a band than an assemblage of some of Cuba's most renowned musical forces, Buena Vista Social Club's origins lie with noted American guitarist Ry Cooder, who in 1996 traveled to Havana to seek out a number of legendary local musicians whose performing careers largely ended decades earlier with the rise of Fidel Castro. Recruiting the... [+] Read More

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Many of the top Cuban jazz musicians have played in Irakere during the past several decades, including altoist Paquito D'Rivera and trumpeter Arturo Sandoval (before both individually defected). Pianist Chucho Valdes has been the orchestra's longtime leader, and its music ranges from Latin jazz and bop to Cuban folk melodies, with an emphasis on... [+] Read More

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Orquesta Sublime is another in a long line of fine Cuban bands that benefited from the involvement of a foreign musician who brought them new exposure in America; the most famous example of this, of course, is the "discovery" of the musicians of the Buena Vista Social Club by American slide guitarist Ry Cooder. In Orquesta Sublime's case, the... [+] Read More

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Rubén Blades is one of the most successful vocalists in the history of Panamanian music. A former member of bands led by Ray Baretto and Willie Colón, Blades has continued to influence salsa music with his highly literate, politically tinged lyrics and his modern-minded arrangements, which substitute the usual horn and Latin percussion sections... [+] Read More

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Trombone player, composer, and bandleader, Willie Colón was one of the pioneers of Latin American music. Despite initial criticism, Colón's album El Malo has become known as one of the first albums to feature the "New York Sound" that sparked a renewed interest in Latin music during the 1970s. Colón has been instrumental in the careers of such... [+] Read More

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