The inaugural Brown University Latin Jazz and Pop Festival will bring some of the most exciting performers in contemporary Latin music to Providence, RI for five nights in October. In addition to showcasing local musical talent, the festival features Cuban singer and composer Descemer Bueno, who won three Latin Grammy Awards in 2014, including “Song of the Year” for “Bailando,” and the Grammy and Latin Grammy-nominated Afro-Cuban funk group PALO! Other festival highlights include master percussionist Pedrito Martinez, who Wynton Marsalis calls a “genius” and Quincy Jones praises as “the real thing.” The festival closes with Indie Latin folk rocker Gina Chavez, who swept the 2015 Austin Music Awards, winning “Musician of the Year” and “Album of the Year.” You will not find a Latin musical line-up as powerful as this one anywhere north of Miami!
The festival also features a talk about the roots of Latin music by musicologist Ned Sublette, author of the definitive Cuba and Its Music, and a panel on contemporary Latin jazz and pop with Martin Cohen, founder of the Latin Percussion (LP) brand of percussion instruments. Emmy-winning director Joe Cardona will make a PBS film about the whole festival entitled Ivy League Rumba.
All performances and talks will be free and open to the public. For tickets and more information, including biographies, video clips, performance times and locations, please visit www.brown.edu/clacs.