News & Updates — NYC

Despite the working name of "Joe Cuba", the conguero Gilberto Calderon was actually a Nuyorican who grew up in Spanish Harlem. Since the first album in 1962 and into the '70s, the Joe Cuba Sextet were a very important and influential band on the newer generation of Latino musicians. With the two-tongued vocal duo of Cheo Feliciano (singing in Español) and Jimmy Sabater (singing in English) they scored a bunch of smash hits and helped fuel the boogaloo craze of the mid-'60s, fusing the soul music influence with Afro-Cuban rhythms. The group's albums contained burning hot descargas, jumping boogaloos and...

Happy 4/20 birthday shout-out to the iconic Tito Puente! Best known as a Simpsons charact...haha just kidding! Among the Nuyorican musical greats, there has never been a dull moment with El Rey's brand of fiery and entertaining Latin jazz. His first notable pro gig was with Machito during WW2, before serving his own tour. After receiving medals as a "war hero" he started a nonet, The Piccadilly Boys, in '47. He led one of the great orchestras of the classic mambo era, often featuring percussion battles with Tito and top players on the scene. In 1960, his band was just...

Jimmy Sabater, the velvet-voiced Nuyorican singer & timbalista with the Joe Cuba Sextet, was the smooth English-tongued half of his lead vocal duo with Cheo Feliciano. Check out such great tunes as the smash hit "Bang, Bang", and "To Be With You" (a classic bolero, which Jimmy also cut a good disco version in '76). A native of El Barrio, he met Joe Cuba while playing stickball and the two joined Joe Panama's band. Eventually Joe Cuba took it over and transformed it into the popular Joe Cuba Sextette. They started making records in the late '50s but it was...

Taking the world by storm: the amazing Locobeach!! Psychedelic disco-cumbia made in Brooklyn NY, from the bastard children of Chicha Libre and Los Crema Paraiso. Members of Los Amigos Invicibles, La Muy Bestia Pop and featuring the talents of Joshua Camp, songwriting talent and creator of the C.A.M.P.O.S. project. This fantastic new outfit is already electrifying audiences around NYC. Locobeach is cumbia pop; latin disco with a psychedelic/spaghetti western edge. This supergroup of a band is comprised of Jose Luis Pardo on guitars/vocals, Neil Ochoa on congas/percussion/electronics, Joshua Camp on accordion/keyboards/vocals and Edward Marshall on bass. Dance music for your...

NYC-based band Fulaso, featuring Erica Ramos, will be playing the next installment of the crucial ¡Vaya! 63 series at The David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center. The show is produced in association with NYU's Music & Social Change Lab. Barcelona native DJ Turmix (of the famous Boogaloo! NYC parties) will open with a vinyl DJ set. This all happens Friday, March 24, 7pm. The event is free admission, on a strictly first-come first-serve basis. And yes, they all "sell" out. 61 W 62nd St New York, NY 10023 With hefty brass and raucous rhythms rooted in Puerto Rico, Cuba, and...