Mon 4/13 @ 7PM
Latin jazz engages even listeners who don’t like jazz as a rule, with its heat, energy, and its combination of complex but infectious rhythms and its graceful tunefulness.
But it comes in more varieties than the average listener might think. One of those we don’t get to hear that often is the Afro-Peruvian strain played by the Gabriel Alegria Sextet.
Trumpeter Alegria leads an ensemble that features such unusual (to us) percussion instruments as quijada (donkey jawbone) and Peruvian cajón (box drum), which help execute the distinctive take on African rhythms found in the music of coastal Peru. And performances incorporate zapateo dancing, a variant of flamenco, performed by percussionist and founding band member Freddy “Huevito” Lobatón.
Together for a decade, the group has performed extensively abroad in larger cities, but apparently in Peru, they’ve got a Grateful Dead-like thing going on. Their bio boasts of their “Tour Peru” concept in which, they say, “fans of the band literally join the musicians on the road in Perú.”
The ensemble will be performing at Nighttown, where Lobatón can hopefully eke out the room he needs to dance.
Tickets are $20.
Photo by Maurice D. Robertson
Cleveland Heights, OH 44106