Latino Music Cafe - Latin music blog with articles, reviews, and interviews.

If you want to experience new Salsa that sounds like Classic Salsa, then check out Willy Calderon's "LA Impromtu". The young Colombian musician, producer, pianist, and percussionist, who grew up in Los Angeles, produced an impressive…

It's "supposed suicide" because Hector Lavoe never attempted suicide by jumping from a 9th-floor hotel room. The general knowledge of the public is that Hector jumped to take his life. But in an interview with Frankie Jay, Richie Viera,…

The Jazz / Latin Jazz album "Luz", led and produced by Mauricio Rodriguez, was a delightful listening experience. The Cuban bassist and producer assembled a nice group of musicians that participated alternately throughout the album's 10…

This month we commemorate the 130th birthday of Rafael Hernandez "El Jibarito", considered one of the best songwriters from Latin America. I'll share an anecdote my father told me about him, as my dad knew Rafael Hernandez personally.…

The evolution of Salsa orchestrations during the '70s dramatically increased its popularity and established it as a solid genre of popular music, not a passing craze. Salsa Music in the '60s It started in the '60s when bands began to mix…

I was mesmerized when I heard the first notes of Jose Aguirre's Cali Big Band in "Gente con Alma". It just got better from there. This album, nominated for Best Traditional Tropical Album at the 2021 Latin Grammy Awards, features a 23…

It's a song, a protest, a call for justice! And it's framed in the sound and history of the Marimba. "Mother of Song (Queen Marimba)" captures it all. As you know, I rarely write about singles, but this one merited an exception. I…

I believe that there is a market for Hybrid Concerts, where an artist performs in front of a (socially distanced and/or fully vaccinated) live audience and via streaming simultaneously. The Case for Hybrid Concerts The COVID-19 pandemic…