An Afro-Cuban take on the Great American Songbook.

“…one of the best. He knows our music and everything that puts it together.”
–– Dizzy Gillespie

“No one puts out Latin Jazz as adventurous as what’s found here.”
–– Jazz Now

“Santos has placed the Bay Area on the cutting edge of Latin Jazz.”
–– East Bay Express

“Brilliant, revolutionary… they drive the temperature through the ceiling.”
–– Oakland Tribune

John Santos: Unusual Standards

An Afro-Cuban take on the Great American Songbook.

Few people on earth know as much about Afro-Latin music as the remarkable percussionist John Santos. A San Francisco boy of the ’50s, John was steeped in his family’s rich Puerto Rican and Cape Verdean traditions. Before long he was sharing the world’s stages with his childhood heroes: Dizzy Gillespie, Max Roach, Tito Puente, Eddie Palmieri, and dozens more and leveraging this rare wealth of experience to form groups that brought together styles, rhythms, concepts and artists from four generations. Tonight the four-time Grammy nominee takes us on a rollercoaster ride of astonishingly reimagined jazz classics with an Afro-Cuban approach. Oakland blues-and-soul superstar vocalist Terrie Odabi pilots the band with heart-pumping energy alongside Berkeley’s own sensational vocalist Destani Wolf. The amazing newcomer and the urban diva turn up the heat on songs you know and love.

Personnel: John Santos, percussion; Melecio Magdaluyo, woodwinds; Dr. John Calloway, flute; Marco Diaz, piano; Saul Sierra, bass; David Flores, drums; Destani Wolf & Terrie Odabi, vocals