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2006-04-04
7:30PM
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"To me, [Pablo Menendez] and Mezcla is the cleanest, freshest water I have ever tasted"
- Carlos Santana
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[ Complete Show Schedule... ] |
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| Pablo Menendez with Osmany Paredes |
FEATURING:
Pablo Menendez - jazz guitar
Osmany Paredes - piano
Fernando Huergo - bass
Jorge Navarro - percussion
Eric Doob - drums
Daniel Ian Smith - sax, flute |
In the last several decades, the level of international dominance which Cuban musicians have achieved in Jazz, Latin and related musical genres has been quite out of proportion to this island's population of approximately ten million people. Even within this rich and diverse crowd of fantastically talented and creative musicians, the story behind PABLO MENENDEZ stands out as colorful and unique.
Born in Oakland, California, son of the well-known blues and folk singer Barbara Dane. Pablo came to study in Havana in 1966 at the age of 14. In 1970, he joined the seminal Grupo de Experimentacion Sonora del ICAIC ( i.e. the experimental sound collective of the Cuban Film Institute) which was known for its experimental fusion of Cuban genres with North American, Brazilian and Classical styles. At the Film Institute, he composed film music and Cuban jazz / rock fusion pieces, as well as arranging songs by the band's singer-songwriters Pablo Milan's, Silvio Rodriguez and Sara Gonzalez.
After this decisive experience, Pablo Menendez worked in two equally
important bands. The first was Sonido Contemporaneo, led by sax player Nicol's Reinoso. It functioned as the "house band" at the "El Rio" club, the center of the Cuban jazz scene of the '70s and a good part of the '80s. Another alumnus of that band was pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba! The other band was Carlos Alfonso's group, Sintesis which achieved a very sophisticated fusion of elements of Nueva Trova, Rock and Jazz Rock, with Afro-Cuban Yoruba music.
In the minds of most of his Cuban and international audience, however, Pablo is most closely associated with Mezcla, the fantastic Afro-Cuban Jazz rock septet he founded in 1985. Pablo has been leading Mezcla to the present day, on countless gigs in Cuba, many international tours to Europe and the U.S., and on several critically acclaimed recordings.
Pablo also opened the way, in the mid '90s, for other Cuban musicians to tour the United States. When Mezcla's visas were denied in 1993, U.S. public opinion and various members of Congress mobilized to protest. Among the protesters was the legendary guitarist Carlos Santana, the spearhead of Latin Rock, who stated in an interview with the San Francisco Examiner that Mezcla was his favorite band from Cuba. When Pablo traveled to San Francisco without the visa-less band to perform at the Encuentro del Canto Popular Festival, Santana joined Pablo onstage. Although it was the first time they had played together and there was no rehearsal, Pablo says "it was as if we had been playing together forever and knew each other's minds: different ways of speaking the same language. But what more can I say about Carlos, one of the all-time great artists of the guitar!"
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