In May of this year I spent a few days in New York. Although I was disappointed that I missed seeing my all-time favourite salsa dura musician Eddie Palmieri by one day, I was pleased to discover that a great Venezuelan timbales player, Luisito Quintero, was performing at the same venue, Subrosa, on the evening of my arrival.
Here’s Luisito in action at Subrosa:
Some more photos I took at the gig; the next image is of Luisito’s brother Roberto Quintero on congas:
Luisito playing his signature timbales:
The flautist:
Last Friday I went to Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in London to see Spanish Harlem Orchestra who are on tour in Europe. Based in the US, Spanish Harlem Orchestra – also known by the acronyn SHO – are a great Latin Jazz/ salsa dura project led by pianist Oscar Hernandez and fronted by three singers. I immediately recognised the vocalist they introduced as their newest lead as the very same guy I’d photographed on flute at Subrosa – Jeremy Bosch, originally from Puerto Rico.
My copy of the SHO CD featuring Chick Corea and Joe Lovano – the artwork depicts a New York skyline, and the O of the word Orchestra is filled with the Puerto Rican flag. Signed by musical director Oscar Hernandez and dedicated to Mish …
So … a small world.Talking of small worlds; here is the disco mirror ball at Subrosa:
Check out my earlier post on travels with percussion which includes images of Pedrito Martinez and Jhair Sala performing as Subrosa.
I loved the Spanish Harlem Orchestra at Ronnie’s and Oscar Hernandez, what a hard working, humble musician. He signed everyone’s Cd’s. A shame Luisito Quintero was not playing though, although the timbal player was great and looked not unlike a Latino Jim Le Messurier
Yes, I loved them too. And it would be fun to do a “compare and contrast” with their substitute timbal player and Jim … I thought he looked familiar!