It’s an ‘All about Jazz’ weekend

21st July 2014   ·   0 Comments

By Geraldine Wyckoff
Contributing Writer

To say that Cuban-born pianist Omar Sosa and the members of his New AfroCuban Quartet are excited about making their debut appearance in New Orleans is truly an understatement. “It’s a dream come true,” says the illustrious now-Barcelona based artist who has performed around the world. “In my band we talk about what place we’d most like to discover and we always arrive at the same conclusion — New Orleans.”

The group, which utilizes Sosa’s wealth of influences — Cuban, African and American modern jazz — arrives at Snug Harbor for two shows on Saturday, July 26. Though Sosa has long had the desire to visit New Orleans, in part because he understands that it is the most Caribbean-like locale in the United States, he feels that now just might be the right time. He’s ready.

“Based on all of my trips to Africa, I’m going to understand the spices inside of New Orleans music,” explains the multi-Grammy-nominated pianist. “I look at this moment as the beginning of something because I’m going to be in New Orleans for the first time in my life. The music is the answer of the voice of the community. Music represents how the community and how the people in one country or one village try to present their culture and their tradition.”

It’s interesting, though unfortunate, that despite Sosa’s formidable musical education including studying at the prestigious Instituto Superior de Arte in Havana, he received no real instruction or training in New Orleans or American music. Sosa, 49, explains the reason was because the government deemed that “whoever relates to America is the enemy. This is one of the reasons I wanted to go to the United States,” adds Sosa, who first left his homeland in 1993 for Ecuador to study the country’s marimba traditions. Two years later he moved to California’s Bay Area.

“Sometime you listen to music, but you don’t know where it comes from,” Sosa continues of his lack of knowledge about New Orleans jazz. He tells of a time in 1991 when he and his companions “discovered the Marsalis family.”

“A friend brought a cassette of Marsalis’ father on piano (Ellis). We listened to this tape non-stop for a week. Of course, the cassette was destroyed because there was only one cassette for all the friends. We said, ‘Wow, what is this?’ We didn’t even know they came from New Orleans. This same thing happened with Morton (Jelly Roll).

Besides Sosa, two of the other musicians in the New AfroCuban Quartet — saxophonist Leandro Saint-Hill and drummer Ernesto Simpson come from his hometown, Camaguey, in central Cuba. Sosa, who began his musical journey on marimba and has known Simpson since he was four year old, describes their relationship saying, “The history we have together is like a movie script. The reason I don’t play percussion is because he was my best friend and he played so good. And I said, ‘Hey man, I prefer to listen to you than play with you.’ I decided to put my focus on another thing. I had no classical training on piano like I had on percussion. I decided to play the piano like 88 drums. I started to play for fun and I continue to play for fun.”

That powerful rhythmic element can heard in Sosa’s music as well as a sense of spirituality that plays an important role in all that he does. Thus, it is “the ancestors” he thanks for his musical abilities.

“To be honest, I’m listening to the voices. I became honest with myself and honest with them to present what they tried to tell me,” says Sosa who follows the Santeria faith. “Based on how open you are inside, another spirit is going to come out of your physical and say something to you. We don’t want to impress anybody. We don’t want to show muscles. We don’t have muscles, we have our souls to say something.

Sosa, a musician with brilliant technique and a flair for improvisation and creativity, rightfully considers himself a jazz artist though in a philosophical context. “For me jazz is a philosophy — the philosophy of freedom. It’s the only style of music that (allows you to) combine any music on the planet.”

When Sosa first arrived in Barcelona some 15 years ago, he went to a club to hear a band and was highly impressed by the bass player. That musician was Childo Tomas, a native of Mozambique then living in Spain. “After he finished the concert I said, ‘I loved your groove man. I make music like you. I brought some music (for you) to listen to. If you like it, call me.’ He called the same night. He said, ‘I’m the guy you met one hour ago. I listened to the first track of the first CD you gave to me. This is the music I want to play.’” He’s been with Sosa ever since.

“I look for light and the communication with the ancestors to give me the opportunity to move ahead,” says Sosa. “Playing in New Orleans is a dream come true — to play in the place I’ve always dreamed of. One day, I am going to live there; I don’t know if will be in this life or another life.”

Wynton Returns to the Saenger Theater

These days, it’s rare indeed for trumpeter Wynton Marsalis to perform twice in his hometown within a year. The extraordinary and extraordinarily busy, multi-award winning musician/composer/bandleader and artistic director of New York’s Jazz at Lincoln Center will do just that. On Sunday night, July 27, Marsalis will lead the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra through a program that will certainly be different than the show the ensemble presented in October 2013. That night it performed the Abyssinian Mass backed by a huge choir. This time out, the 14-piece band is sure to be swinging at a show that benefits the Tipitina’s Foundation and its many youth-oriented programs.

Go to www.saengernola.com for tickets and information.

This article originally published in the July 21, 2014 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.