March 7, 2007

GABRIEL ALEGRÍA:
AFRO-PERUVIAN SEXTET

“Gabriel is a wonderful composer who is creating sounds few people have heard before. Very fresh!” Maria Schneider

Smoldering jazz is kicked up with the intoxicating polyrhythms of coastal Peru as trumpeter and composer Gabriel Alegría continues to chart a fresh new idiom. Combining his own distinctive approach to jazz trumpet with the rich heritage of Afro-Peruvian music, Alegría is joined by saxophonist Laurandrea Leguía, guitarist Jocho Velazquez, bassist Joscha Oetz, drummer Hugo Alcázar and percussionist Freddy “Huevito” Lobatón—who plays traditional Afro-Peruvian instruments such as cajón (box drum) and quijada (jawbone) and adds spectacular passages of zapateo criollo tap dancing. This performance, the group's only West Coast appearance in 2007, features music from Alegría's latest recording, Nuevo Mundo.

Funded by La Asociación Internacional Jazz Perú and the Peruvian Ministry of Culture.

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please call the REDCAT box office at 213-237-2800.