bolero

I was surprised by how little mention Frank Emilio gets for his significant contributions to Latin music. He was not only one of the "forefathers" of the "bolero-filin", but he also influenced the development of Afro-Cuban jazz in Cuba,…

In Part 2 of this series on the "filin" we'll take a deeper look at Jose Antonio Mendez, one of three artists that helped popularize the "filin" genre. To recap, on Part 1 of the "Bolero-Filin" blog series we discussed the origins of the…

The latest recording by Gilberto Santa Rosa has plenty of music and variety Latin music rhythms, has some very nice tunes, and yet it's not his best work. However, a characteristic that makes Gilberto such a great artist is that he's…

In this series of blogs, I'll walk through the development and spread of the "Bolero Filin". While I researched this Cuban music genre, I found interesting connections to more contemporary Latin music genres and artists in several…

Salsa music star Cheo Feliciano was able to successfully rebuild his career and more importantly his life, after falling deep in the grasp of drugs. The album "Cheo" marked his return more than 40 years ago. Note: I originally wrote and…