Date/Time
Date(s) - 07/19/2014
7:30 PM - 10:00 PM
Location
Miner Auditorium, SFJAZZ Center
Category(ies)
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“Sosa is one of the truly illuminated minds of world jazz. He is shaping a new synthesis of Latin and American jazz.” — Billboard
“Although Cuba has produced more than its share of leonine jazz pianists, Sosa stands out among them because of the crystalline beauty of his touch and the nimbleness of his technique.” — Chicago Tribune
- Omar Sosa — piano, vocals
- Leandro Saint-Hill — woodwinds, percussion
- Childo Tomas — bass, vocals
- Ernesto Simpson — drums
The celebrated Cuban pianist Omar Sosa plays his singular style of Afro-Cuban jazz – infused with Monk, rap and Chopin – with an entrancing mix of harmonic daring and rhythmic drive. “Sosa’s music is the unifying sort, yoking together Africa and jazz and Latin America and hip-hop,” wrote New York Times critic Ben Ratliff. “He makes it work, being one of those rare birds whose keyboard skills are near those of Chick Corea or Chucho Valdés.” A international favorite since he emerged on the Bay Area’s popping Latin scene in the 1990s, Sosa, who won the Jazz Journalists Association’ 2003 Afro-Caribbean Jazz Album of the Year Award for his recording Sentir, performs here in a killer quartet with two other Cuban musicians, drummer Ernesto Simpson and woodwind ace Leandro Saint-Hill, and bassist Childo Tomas from Mozambique, who shares vocals with the magnetic pianist. Nominated for multiple GRAMMY and Latin GRAMMY awards, Sosa is a prolific composer who has recorded nearly 30 albums as a leader. Last year he released Eggun: the Afri-Lectric Experience, a richly evocative tribute to Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue, begun as a commission from the Barcelona Jazz Festival to celebrate the 50th anniversary of that timeless record. Sosa’s CD features a primo cast of musicians that includes guitarist Lionel Loueke and percussionist John Santos, one of SFJAZZ’s Resident Artistic Directors.
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