Listening to this recording is similar to having a knowledgeable friend spin some tunes that fit together in many likely though not necessarily expected ways. It is a “mix tape” of sorts that features ...

As the cofounder of the important Cuban music label Qbadisc and coproducer of public radio's Afropop Worldwide, Sublette is a well-known figure among elite mambo aficionados. Still, the sheer size and ...

Producer Jacob Plasse teamed up with the beloved mambo singer Jose “Pepito” Gomez and an all-star group of Cuban jazz players last year. Their aim was to make a mambo record that could sit alongside ...

Cuban bassist and composer Israel "Cachao" Lopez, who is credited with pioneering the mambo styleof music, died Saturday. He was 89. Known simply as Cachao, the Grammy-winning musician had fallen ill ...

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Jacob Plasse remembers vividly the first time he heard mambo music. To hear him describe it, it was nothing short of a spiritual awakening. Now, as one of the lead collaborators in ...

Sarah Willis is back with her own 20-piece 'Sarahbanda' for a new album that combines classical horn and the sounds of salsa, ...

Ry Cooder’s 1997 collaboration with a group of septuagenarian Cuban musicians, Buena Vista Social Club, sold 8 million copies and earned a Grammy for Best Tropical Latin Performance. It also earned ...

I started to seriously listen to music around 1972, when I became an active rather than passive listener, constantly searching for songs I'd never heard before. It was a great time to do it, because ...

Orquesta Akokán takes its name from the Yoruba word meaning "from the heart." The group's self-titled debut album, released in March, draws deep from the soul and history of Cuba, reviving the spirit ...

SARAH WILLIS first visited Havana in February 2017. She was working in Miami with the New World Symphony Orchestra and figured she may as well take the hour-long flight across the Strait of Florida, ...

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There are unlimited reasons to love Cuban music, but what draws me the most is the relentless, resilient joy at its heart. The island’s grooves have a century-long history of sparking international ...