• Music

    Lucho Bermudez y su Orquesta – The Coastal Invasion

    October 2, 2022 - By 

    The ever-stunning Radio Martiko out of Belgium release an amazing collection of cumbia from Colombia’s greatest export, Lucho Bermudez.  From the label’s Bandcamp release site: Bermudez was a key figure who modernised the tropical music of Colombia’s Caribbean coast. At the beginning of the 20th century, this music was largely looked down on. Bermudez changed all that by injecting a modern, jazzy big band sound to the Afro-Colombian sounds from his native region. The infectious Afro-Amerindian dance rhythms of Lucho Bermudez y su Orquesta took over the elite nightclubs of Bogota and Medellin and from there, his music spread all…

  • Music

    Kalí Rodriguez-Peña – Mélange

    March 12, 2022 - By 

    Kalí Rodriguez-Peña is a Cuban-American trumpeter who is one of the leading lights of New York’s modern salsa scene.  Salsa isn’t a genre that normally gets caught by my radar, but recently I’ve had the chance to explore the works of artists like Johnny Colón, Hector Lavoe and Willie Colón, so finding non-commercial salsa has been a real treat. The album is dark for Cuban music, and I love the energy it emits.  It’s far more smoky and the music references Rodriguez-Peña’s heroes like Miles Davis and Freddie Hubbard.  Brilliant.  

  • Music - Music Articles

    Salah Ragab and The Cairo Jazz Band – Egyptian Jazz

    June 25, 2021 - By 

    How do such wonderful musicians get lost in the mists of time?  It boggles the mind, though I must say I’m happy to be living in an age of crate-divers and those who have the same passion of discovering music as I do. This particular artist, Salah Ragab, a military man who also was a swinging jazz maestro, is well-known to Sun Ra aficionados, but only to a few outside this select group.  It’s a shame, as this particular album gathers songs which mix together big band music, cha-cha-chá, Raqş sharqī, and melodramatic music which would fit well in an…