Issue Articles
Jon Cleary
The night Jon Cleary arrived in New Orleans as a teenager, he assumed that he was taking his first steps on American soil—at the Maple Leaf with Earl King on stage. He hadn’t really landed in the United States exactly, but instead in the northern musical capital of the Caribbean.
Mireya Ramos. Performing with Charlie and the Tropicales
The hyper-talented violinist and singer-songwriter Mireya Ramos will be a guest of Charlie and the Tropicales.
This is Latin Jazz: Charlie Sepulveda’s jazz journey started with Louis Armstrong
Trumpeter-bandleader Charlie Sepulveda brings a lifetime of Latin and jazz musicianship from his home in Luquillo, Puerto Rico, a place with hundreds of years of musical tradition preceding him.
Fest Focus: Arturo Sandoval
Arturo Sandoval will perform in the Jazz Tent at Jazz Fest on Friday, April 29, at 5:40 p.m. Exactly two years ago, OffBeat spoke with trumpet maestro Arturo Sandoval about […]
“For All We Know,” Jason Marsalis talks about the last Ellis Marsalis recording
The final recording by the late, beloved Ellis Marsalis took place in February 2020, and by April, Mr. Marsalis was lost to his family and the jazz world from COVID-19 […]
Hometown Heroes: Guitarist Davy Mooney is a true Renaissance man
OffBeat spoke with veteran guitarist-singer-composer Davy Mooney, on the occasion of his newest recording, his seventh as a leader. This is Mooney’s welcome third collaboration with a collection of musicians […]
Alfredo Rodriguez and Pedrito Martinez bring their history to the stage
The second-Saturday Jazz Fest appearance by Havana-born pianist Alfredo Rodriguez and percussionist Pedrito Martinez marks a visit by two of the most talented musicians in the world, in an unusual […]
Cuba’s Havana Jazz Festival: Divorced in 1960 but still madly in love
Politics divides, but jazz unites. —Ronell Johnson, Preservation Hall Jazz Band trombonist. The Havana Jazz Festival is probably best-known as the place where Dizzy Gillespie first heard Irakere, whose members […]
Love and Passion: Cuban Trumpeter Arturo Sandoval’s Musical Imagination
ARTURO SANDOVAL: SATURDAY, APRIL 30—ZATARAIN’S WWOZ JAZZ TENT, 5:35 P.M. There are precious few musicians in the world as fully realized as Cuban-born trumpeter Arturo Sandoval. His formidable improvisational […]
Bobby Womack Writes the Songs the Whole World Sings
In 1963, Bobby Dwayne Womack was just 19 when he wrote “It’s All Over Now”—inspired by his uncle’s woman troubles—for he and his brothers’ band, The Valentinos. Although the song […]
