GA Russell

I think I would start a college, and only the people who agree with me could be on the faculty.

LOL! I want to talk about the Royal Bank of Scotland and whether there will be a worldwide collapse of the economy this year, and you guys want to talk about Alex Jones!

Larry, thanks fore the link. That was an enjoyable read. I have found that InfoWars is one of those sites which thinks that the Democrats and Republicans are all in it together. Their views are not mainstream, but I have never known them to lie. A well-respected economist named Paul Craig Roberts submits a column from time to time. And Donald Trump made an appearance and complimented the site a few weeks ago. Thanks, TD. I didn't know that. I will be interested to see how the British stock market tomorrow reacts to the RBS advisory. And now I see that Bing is highlighting this story. https://www.bing.com/search?q=RBS+sell+everything&filters=tnTID%3a%2294C9CDA5-CFA4-4ac4-B200-4E55BA445892%22+tnVersion%3a%221243622%22+segment%3a%22popularnow.carousel%22+tnCol%3a%228%22+tnOrder%3a%22e68e4ee5-e645-4c98-9032-59581e09a4f5%22&FORM=BSPN01&crslsl=0

The Royal Bank of Scotland today predicted a major depression in 2016, and recommended to its clients that they sell everything except "high quality bonds." http://www.infowars.com/great-depression-2-0-sell-everything-2016-cataclysmic-year-for-stocks-warns-rbs/ RBS is respected, right? Is this something being discussed on UK radio or television? What do you think?

Frank Malzone passed away on the 28th at 85. RIP. I had the pleasure of meeting him in 1973, and he was a very nice guy. Always smiling. I learned just last year that the first year the Golden Glove Awards were given out (1957), they only gave out one per position. Then the following year they started giving one per position for each league. Malzone won it in '57, and thus could say that the writers considered him the best fielding third baseman in the majors. Then Brooks Robinson came along, and started winning them every year, I think starting in 1960 or 1961. As you can see, the New York Times considered Malzone to be worthy of a lengthy obit. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/31/sports/frank-malzone-star-fielder-for-boston-red-sox-dies-at-85.html?_r=0

Happy Birthday 2016 Andy!

I like this guy. I'll look forward to hearing this one. Saxophonist/Composer Russ Nolan's First Live Recording, "Sanctuary from the Ordinary: Live at Firehouse 12," To Be Released February 12 By His Rhinoceruss Music Imprint His Quartet Features Pianist Mike Eckroth, Bassist Daniel Foose, Drummer Brian Fishler CD Release Shows Include Stops in Chicago (Jazz Showcase 4/13) & Akron (BLU Jazz 4/9) January 11, 2016 Saxophonist/composer/arranger Russ Nolan has been documenting his explorations of Latin rhythms and modern jazz harmony on record since the release of his 2004 debut, Two Colors. He has worked with special guests like percussionist Victor Rendon and pianists Kenny Werner and Manuel Valera while deepening ties with players who eventually coalesced into his working group. For his sixth CD, Nolan set himself up for a new challenge by recording the session live in performance. The inspired results may be heard on Sanctuary from the Ordinary: Live at Firehouse 12, which will be released on the saxophonist's Rhinoceruss Music label on February 12. In the company of pianist Mike Eckroth ("one of the best in combining jazz and Latin and salsa"), bassist Daniel Foose (a fellow University of North Texas alum), and longtime drummer Brian Fishler ("he sounds good on everything"), Nolan presented his music to the appreciative audience at the popular New Haven, Connecticut jazz venue/state-of-the-art recording studio. "It was both an exciting and scary endeavor," he says. "We had one night and one take per tune, but there is no substitute for playing in front of people that gave back as much as we gave them. I believe it's our best effort to date." The program opens with a striking reworking of Thelonious Monk's "Green Chimneys," keyed to bata drum and New Orleans second line accents. On the title song, mambo and straight-ahead funk commingle. On the amusingly titled original "Stravinsky's Mambo," a 12-tone row is combined with a mambo beat -- and a Bitches Brew-type groove. Nolan gained proficiency in Latin rhythms in an unusual way -- by not only learning salsa dancing, but also becoming a stylish expert at it. "The Latin dancing made me stronger rhythmically," he says. "Playing good time is usually the last thing horn players develop, and dancing has helped me get the rhythm in my body much in the same way a drummer develops four-way coordination." Sanctuary from the Ordinary offers a wide variety of Latin-influenced sounds -- including tango on the lovely "Take 2," written for his wife while they were honeymooning in Buenos Aires -- as well as some non-Latin surprises. "Memorial Day" is based on the haunting recurring theme of the Netflix series, House of Cards. "It's slow and incredibly simple, as written," he says. "I was inspired by the changes in harmony." The Illinois native (b. 1968) started out on clarinet at age 10 while attending school in Gurnee, but sports took precedence and Nolan envisioned becoming a professional athlete. Albums by Weather Report, Herbie Hancock, and the Brecker Brothers turned his head around, however, and he eventually entered the esteemed jazz program at North Texas State (now the University of North Texas). Nolan moved to Chicago after graduation and studied with local saxophonist Rich Corpolongo and with visiting New Yorkers Dave Liebman, Chris Potter, and Kenny Werner. Nolan also studied with Dave Bloom, founder of the Bloom School of Jazz, whose words of wisdom have reverberated through the years for him. "I learned a lot about appealing to non-musicians from Dave, to the people who were paying to see you," he says. "One of his messages to musicians was to stop babbling, stop playing all those notes. People were drawn to melody and rhythm, not to how fast or complicated you could play." Since relocating to New York City in 2000 (encouraged by the visiting pros he'd taken lessons from in Chicago), Nolan has put the pieces of his career as a saxophonist, writer, arranger, and clinician together. He's emerged as a prolific recording artist. And he's connected with the city's burgeoning pan-American scene, for the last three years leading a salsa band that performs for dancers. Nolan also tours regularly, with the following dates in support of Sanctuary from the Ordinary presently in place: 4/1 Duke's Southern Table, Newark, NJ; 4/9 BLU Jazz, Akron, OH; 4/13 Jazz Showcase, Chicago; 4/17 Redstone Room @ River Music Experience, Davenport, IA; 4/21 Black Hawk College, Moline, IL. Web Site: russnolan.com

I can't say that I was a fan, but he sure was popular in the '70s and later. It appeared to me that people in the business considered him to be a visionary. Anyone have any favorite stories?

Happy Birthday 2016 7/4!

Joe, under the $43 price, you will see "28 New from $5.64." Click on "28 New," and you will go to the page that offers the box for $5.64, noting that the seller is Amazon. It says, "Temporarily Out of Stock," but when I placed my order, I was surprised to find that they offered the AutoRip download immediately.

Coltrane - Complete 1961 Village Vanguard (with AutoRip) - $5.64 (Prime) http://www.amazon.com/Complete-1961-Village-Vanguard-Recordings/dp/B000003NA3

Tenor Saxophonist/Composer Matt Parker Debuts His Trio With Bassist Alan Hampton & Drummer Reggie Quinerly On "Present Time," To Be Released February 12 By Parker's BYNK Records CD Is a Follow-Up to 2013's "Worlds Put Together" CD Release Show at National Sawdust, Brooklyn, February 11 January 6, 2016 Tenor and soprano saxophone virtuoso and visionary composer Matt Parker made a vivid impression with his 2013 debut recording, Worlds Put Together. "Restlessly inventive" (Down Beat), Parker is "a fully formed artist with his own unique voice [who] sounds comfortable promenading down multiple paths" (All About Jazz). For his new recording Present Time, Parker pared down the sextet of Worlds to a powerhouse trio comprised of bassist Alan Hampton and drummer Reggie Quinerly, colleagues of his since all three were classmates at the New School nearly 20 years ago. Scheduled for release on February 12 by Parker's BYNK label ("Because You Never Know"), the CD consists of seven Parker originals, one old standard, and a previously unrecorded tune by the late, great Charles Mingus. Vocalist Emily Braden is added on three tracks, and Jerome Jennings plays tambourine on another. Few saxophonists have internalized so much of the instrument's history in jazz as has Parker. In his playing, one hears echoes of Ben Webster's gentle and brutish sides, Lester Young's lyricism, Sonny Rollins's unfettered imagination, Rahsaan Roland Kirk's adventurousness, and the types of extended techniques associated with John Coltrane and Albert Ayler. The CD opens with "Noah's Arc," a swinging groove blues featuring Parker on tenor that he has reworked from an earlier composition to partially exemplify his philosophy of "present time." "There are many meanings behind 'present time,'" he explains. "I've often thought about what it would be like to visit the past knowing what I know now. One change I made was to manipulate the blues form. You have an elongated blues that modulates to a traditional 12-bar blues." L. to r.: Reggie Quinerly, Matt Parker, Alan Hampton. The trio, with Parker on tenor, is joined by Braden for the lovely "Winter's Gone." "I love working with vocalists," the leader says. "Once Emily starts, she never stops. It lends itself to time and the fact that the seasons wait for no one." The oft-recorded "I'm Confessin' (That I Love You)" was first popularized by Louis Armstrong in 1930. The present lightly swinging version features Braden's warm alto pipes and Parker's big-toned tenor. "I love Louis Armstrong and Lester Young, and this gave me an opportunity to play one of my favorite songs by them," he says. Prior to being recorded by Parker on tenor, Charles Mingus's lullaby-like "Song to Keki" had no title and had been heard only in 46- and 20-second versions played by the composer on piano for his then-5-year-old daughter Carolyn (nicknamed "Keki") in the documentary film Mingus: Charlie Mingus 1968. Parker, who has been playing with the Mingus Big Band periodically for the past year, was given permission by Sue Mingus to record it and she named it after her late husband's child. At times during Parker's arrangement of the song, he, Hampton, and Quinerly all seem to be flying off in different directions while the underlying pulse remains steady. "One of the things that I am very fond of that appears in Charles Mingus's music is elasticity -- the idea of stretching the time," the saxophonist explains. Born (in 1979) and raised in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Matt Parker started out on alto saxophone and switched to tenor, which he played on a life-changing summer gig in New Orleans as a teenager. That experience inspired his first composition, "Sixteen," which is revisited on Present Time. Parker moved to New York City in 1999 and enrolled at the New School, where his classmates included Hampton and Quinerly, with whom he has played frequently ever since. Among his New York mentors were Junior Mance, Jane Ira Bloom, Reggie Workman, and Charli Persip. Parker was a member of Maynard Ferguson's Big Bop Nouveau Band from 2004 to 2006 and made his debut recording as a soloist on the album M.F. Horn VI: Live at Ronnie Scott's. Besides performing with his trio at Cornelia Street Cafe and Nublu, both in New York City, and subbing in the saxophone section of the Mingus Big Band at the Jazz Standard, Parker has toured internationally for the past five years with HessIsMore, a band led by Danish drummer and composer Mikkel Hess that plays, in Parker's words, "disco punk jazz." The saxophonist has also appeared around the Big Apple with Beastie Boys rapper and guitarist Ad-Rock and drag-king comedian Murray Hill and was seen playing saxophone in the television series The Real Housewives of New York and the motion picture John Wick. Parker will bring his Present Time trio to a CD release concert 2/11 at National Sawdust, 80 N. 6th Street in Brooklyn, 7:00 pm; tickets are $25. Photography: Javier Oddo Web Site: mattparkermusic.com

Happy Birthday 2015 Cliff!

I read a year or so ago that a former child actor, I think named Cory something, said that there was a great deal of child molestation going on when he was a star. I gathered that he was talking about boys.

Scott, I didn't click to see. They just pointed out that I was agreeing to their collecting data.

Jim, I haven't seen anything yet, but since you've asked, I'll be sure to keep an eye open. ***** Ed Hervey didn't wait long to hire a replacement for Chris Jones. By Dec. 13, He had hired Jason Maas. http://3downnation.com/2015/12/13/eskimos-reportedly-hire-jason-maas-as-head-coach/#comments http://3downnation.com/2015/12/14/maas-mayhem/#comments ***** However, Ottawa raised a stink, and demanded that Edmonton compensate them for signing Maas. http://3downnation.com/2015/12/14/to-compensate-or-not-to-compensate-should-not-even-be-a-question/#comments ***** Maas promptly hired Noel Thorpe, Montreal's OC, to be his own OC - without first obtaining Montreal's permission! http://www.tsn.ca/cfl-investigating-thorpe-s-resignation-1.409982 ***** At that point, the Commissioner stepped in, and put a temporary halt to the coaching carousel. http://3downnation.com/2015/12/16/cfl-places-moratorium-on-coaching-moves-after-thorpe-bolts-for-esks/#comments http://www.tsn.ca/orridge-pushes-pause-on-cfl-coaching-carousel-1.410239 ***** The commissioner then decided that Thorpe's resignation was void. So Thorpe met with the Als' brass, and decided to stay in Montreal! http://www.cfl.ca/2015/12/17/136035/ http://www.cfl.ca/2015/12/21/alouettes-announce-thorpe-to-return-in-2016/ ***** Meanwhile, Chris Jones released nearly half the Riders team! http://www.cfl.ca/2015/12/15/brackenridge-allen-among-surprising-riders-cuts/ http://www.cfl.ca/2015/12/21/riders-extend-george-release-mccallum/

I have a problem with the Jeffrey Toobin New Yorker article (the only one of Larry's three that I've read so far; Thanks, Larry!). I was taught that a prior conviction for one crime is considered irrelevant to the matter at hand. Now Toobin is suggesting that the prosecution may present not a prior conviction, but rather a number of witnesses alleging that he did things similar to what the prosecution is charging. Then, as Toobin says, the prosecution will not base its case upon evidence regarding the crime charged, but rather that the jury members ask themselves, Can they all be lying?

My hard drive shut down a couple of months ago, so I have switched to something small for the time being. Yesterday I went to Spotify to check what they had available, but they insisted that I first download their player. And they insisted that before I do that, I first agree to their collection of my data. No thanks. Now that Grooveshark is gone, what is the next best thing to Spotify that is free? Google Play?

This, from ECM: It is with deep regret that we share the news below from the family of the great Paul Bley: Paul Bley, renowned jazz pianist, died January 3, 2016 at home with his family. Born November 10, 1932 in Montreal, QC, he began music studies at the age of five. At 13, he formed the “Buzzy Bley Band.” At 17, he took over for Oscar Peterson at the Alberta Lounge, invited Charlie Parker to play at the Montreal Jazz Workshop, which he co-founded, made a film with Stan Kenton and then headed to NYC to attend Julliard. His international career has spanned seven decades. He's played and recorded with Lester Young, Ben Webster, Sonny Rollins, Charles Mingus, Chet Baker, Jimmy Giuffre, Charlie Haden, Paul Motian, Lee Konitz, Pat Metheny, Jaco Pastorious and many others. He is considered a master of the trio, but as exemplified by his solo piano albums, Paul Bley is preeminently a pianists' pianist. He is survived by his wife of forty three years, Carol Goss, their daughters, Vanessa Bley and Angelica Palmer, grandchildren Felix and Zoletta Palmer, as well as daughter, Solo Peacock. Private memorial services will be held in Stuart, FL, Cherry Valley, NY and wherever you play a Paul Bley record.

(original) Star Trek (complete) - $41.99 http://www.amazon.com/Star-Trek-Original-Series-Complete/dp/B013Q1BVIE

Let's continue on. Every year that I can recall, everyone in the league takes the week following the Grey Cup off. Not this year. A lot happened that week. Jeff Tedford resigned as the BC coach, and to my great surprise, he was replaced by Wally! http://3downnation.com/2015/12/02/buono-back-to-the-sidelines-as-lions-dump-tedford/#comments http://www.cfl.ca/2015/12/06/tedford-resigns-as-lions-head-coach-buono-to-take-over/ http://www.tsn.ca/tedford-resigns-as-lions-head-coach-1.403035 http://3downnation.com/2015/12/02/ullrich-wally-on-the-hot-seat-to-rebuild-the-lions/#comments http://3downnation.com/2015/12/03/wally-buono-hopes-to-bring-the-roar-back-to-lions/#comments http://3downnation.com/2015/12/12/critical-decisions-face-wally-buono/#comments ***** Jon Cornish announced his retirement. He didn't want to risk another concussion. http://3downnation.com/2015/12/02/cfl-suffers-a-huge-loss-as-cornish-retires-from-the-stampeders/#comments http://www.cfl.ca/2015/12/06/jon-cornish-announces-his-retirement/ http://www.tsn.ca/cp-newsalert-stampeders-running-back-jon-cornish-announces-retirement-1.403203 ***** Before the week following the Grey Cup was over, Chris Jones left the Eskimos to become the GM and head coach of the Roughriders! http://3downnation.com/2015/12/06/whirlwind-of-activity-lands-jones-gm-role-in-saskatchewan/#comments http://www.cfl.ca/2015/12/07/report-chris-jones-hired-by-saskatchewan-roughriders/ http://www.tsn.ca/riders-hire-jones-as-gm-head-coach-1.405187 http://3downnation.com/2015/12/07/head-coach-chris-jones-bolts-from-champs-to-rival-saskatchewan/#comments

Robert Stigwood passed away today. RIP. It's been a long time since I've read his name, but there was a time in the '70s when I saw it in print maybe once a week! http://www.bing.com/search?q=Robert+Stigwood&form=PRHPS1&refig=68526d66e91e4caebb94970f05398895

Happy Birthday 2016 mg!

I liked his salute to Lou Rawls very much. "Invitation," New CD by Vocalist Nicolas Bearde, Due for Jan. 29 Release By Right Groove Records Produced & Arranged by Nat Adderley Jr., & Featuring Guest Soloist Vincent Herring on Alto Sax, CD Is Bearde's 5th Album & 1st Straight-Ahead Jazz Recording CD Release Shows at Cafe Stritch, San Jose, March 5 & Sound Rooml, Oakland, March 26 December 15, 2015 Nicolas Bearde is a San Francisco Bay Area treasure. As a charter member of Bobby McFerrin's Voicestra ensemble as well as the innovative vocal sextet SoVoSó, he's long been internationally recognized as a versatile and fearless vocal improviser, charismatic performer, and distinctive jazz and soul stylist. While Bearde has drawn on his love for both R&B and jazz on his previous four CDs, Invitation, the singer's fifth release on his own Right Groove Records label, is his first entirely straight-ahead set of songs. Produced largely by renowned pianist/arranger Nat Adderley Jr., Invitation will be released January 29. "Nat has a way of starting you in a different direction," says Bearde of Adderley, who spent nearly 20 years as music director for Luther Vandross and grew up in a deeply musical family including his cornetist father Nat Sr. and his alto saxophonist uncle Cannonball. "He has a way of voicing chords that is so very musical. You don't have to hear the melody to hear the melody within the chords. We found that during rehearsal of this new material. I thought, this is probably the most beautiful way I've ever heard these songs." The relaxed phrasing and depth of feeling that Bearde brings to such standards as "Nature Boy," "Lush Life," and "Save Your Love for Me" and to a rarely heard vocal version of Herbie Hancock's "Maiden Voyage" place him firmly in the tradition of such deep-voiced greats as Billy Eckstine, Al Hibbler, Arthur Prysock, Johnny Hartman, Bill Henderson, Lou Rawls, and Jon Lucien. Seven of the tracks were recorded in East Orange, New Jersey, or Brooklyn, New York, with Adderley on piano, Belden Bullock or Kenny Davis on bass, and Vincent Ector or Rocky Bryant on drums, and, on three tracks, alto saxophonist Vincent Herring, considered by many to be Cannonball Adderley's foremost stylistic disciple. "I Want to Talk About You" was produced in Oakland by the late Bud Spangler with pianist John R. Burr, bassist John Wiitala, drummer Akira Tana, and tenor saxophonist Anton Schwartz. "Maiden Voyage" was produced in San Francisco by Bearde and Peter Horvath, who played piano in the company of bassist Gary Brown, drummer Leon Joyce Jr., and percussionist Peter Michael Escovedo. Bearde was introduced to Adderley nearly three years ago while appearing at Trumpets in Montclair, New Jersey. The club's owner recommended that Bearde call Adderley, who lived in the neighborhood, about the possibility of their working together at his next Trumpets engagement. "Nat said 'Send me the music and info, let's hear what you do,'" says Bearde. "So I sent him three albums' worth of material, and he called back and said, 'Where have you been? Why don't people know who you are? Of course I'll work with you.'" Nashville native Nicolas Bearde, who's been based in the San Francisco Bay Area since the 1970s, has worked extensively as an actor for stage, screen, and television and as a voice-over artist in addition to his vocal pursuits. By the mid-1980s, he'd hooked up with Bobby McFerrin's Voicestra, and when McFerrin decided to take a break from the group in the mid-'90s, Bearde and other members branched off into a smaller a cappella unit called SoVoSó, which included Molly Holm, Linda Tillery, Rhiannon, Joey Blake, David Worm, and Edgardo Cambon. "We followed in the improvisational tradition of Voicestra, but added more gospel, Latin, and R&B elements," he says. Bearde maintains a busy touring schedule. He has appeared at the Russian River Jazz Festival, San Jose Festival, Salt Lake City Jazz Festival, Usadba Jazz Festival in Russia, and Minsk Jazz Festival in Belarus, as well as such clubs as Yoshi's in both Oakland and San Francisco, B.B. King's and Café Cordial in Los Angeles, and the abovementioned Trumpets. Besides being a master singer, Bearde has distinguished himself as an actor. Since taking part in Juke Box, a 1986 radio play starring Danny Glover, he has appeared in such films as True Crime, Final Analysis, and Pacific Heights; on television in Monk, Henry Lee, Nash Bridges, and Baby Snatcher; on the stage in Flying West, Two Trains Running, Full Moon, Twelfth Night, American Song, and Master Harold...and the Boys; and in commercials for the California Lottery, Chrysler, Orchard Supply Hardware, and Verizon. Bearde has released four albums through his Right Groove imprint: Crossing the Line (1998), All About Love (2004), Live at Yoshi's: A Salute to Lou [Rawls] (2008), and Visions (2013). Connoisseurs of fine jazz singing will be thankful to hear him in the uncompromising context of Invitation. Nicolas Bearde will be performing two CD release shows in the Bay Area: Saturday 3/5 at Café Stritch in San Jose and Saturday 3/26 at the Sound Room in Oakland. Web Site: nicolasbearde.com

"This Could Be That," 3rd CD by Drummer Brian Andres & the Afro-Cuban Jazz Cartel, Due for Jan. 15 Release by Bacalao Records Guest Percussionists Include Alex Acuña, Louie Romero, John Santos, & Michael Spiro December 8, 2015 Drummer Brian Andres has been leading his powerhouse Afro-Cuban Jazz Cartel since 2007, establishing them as a prime voice in the thriving San Francisco Bay Area Latin jazz scene. With his third album, This Could Be That, which is due for release by his Bacalao Records imprint on January 15, Andres and his Cartel exert a firm grip on the music's cutting edge, playing with confidence, poise, and rhythmic imagination. Featuring a core octet drawn from the cream of local players, This Could Be That includes guest appearances by innovators such as Cuban-American vocalist Venissa Santi, Fania All-Stars timbalero Louie Romero, bata master Michael Spiro, Peruvian percussion star Alex Acuña, and percussion maestro John Santos. Over the past decade, the Cartel has earned a sterling reputation as a turbo-charged vehicle for interpreting challenging material, and This Could Be That includes compositions and arrangements by top-shelf writing talent from within and outside the band's ranks. "The first two albums we did had concepts," Andres says. "Our debut Drummers Speak [2007] focused on compositions by Latin percussionists and jazz drummers. San Francisco [2013] highlighted composers and arrangers of the Bay Area. On this one, things just happened organically. Everybody wanted to contribute. We ended up with a lot of different things in the record, and there wasn't one single thread." But the album's disparate program expresses the Cartel's vivid and distinctive personality. In many ways This Could Be That embodies the Bay Area's close-knit Latin music community, which got a burst of international attention when the Pacific Mambo Orchestra won the 2014 Grammy Award for Best Latin Tropical Album. The PMO's co-leaders, German-born trumpeter Steffen Kuehn and Mexico City-raised pianist Christian Tumalan, both play a significant role in the Cartel. Kuehn, who plays on about half the album's tracks, brought in a state-of-the-art timba-powered arrangement of his original "Limite," which features Cuban timbalero Calixto Oviedo as a special guest. And Tumalan, who holds down the Cartel piano chair, "and is integral to developing the sound of the Cartel" Andres says, contributed a thrilling Cubanized arrangement of Chick Corea's Elektric Band anthem "Got a Match?" that slyly references Corea's standards "Armando's Rhumba" and "Spain." Other highlights include the (translated) title track, "Esto Puede Ser Eso," a lovely cha cha by Cartel percussionist Javier Cabanillas and arranged by Cabanillas and trombonist Jamie Dubberly, who leads one of the Bay Area's top salsa bands, Orquesta Dharma; bassist Saul Sierra's arrangement of the Daniel Ponce salsa classic "Bacalaitos," with legendary Nuyorican percussionist Louie Romero adding conga, timbales, and maraca; and the bilingual bolero rendition of "My One and Only Love," featuring Cuban-American vocalist Venissa Santi as well as Andres's father Mike Andres on alto saxophone (reuniting him with a piece he recorded years ago with Cincinnati's Symphony Jazz Ensemble). Born (in 1968) and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, the son of professional musicians, Brian Andres started playing drums in the fourth grade. After high school, he took classes at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music but abandoned formal studies once he landed a full-time gig with veteran bluesman Cincinnati Slim and the Headhunters. Andres was in the midst of a thriving career playing rock, funk, R&B, and blues when he experienced his clave epiphany, courtesy of the Cleveland salsa band Impacto Nuevo. "It changed my trajectory of where I wanted to go," Andres recalls. "I've often likened it to the first time I kissed a girl. I just wanted to do it over and over again. The first time I heard it done well live, it had me." He put together a Latin jazz band of his own, and started buying up whatever albums he could find, which introduced him to leading Bay Area artists such as John Santos's Machete Ensemble, Andy Narell, and Pete Escovedo. It was Bay Area Latin jazz stalwart, the late Dutch-born drummer Paul van Wageningen, who convinced him to make the move to San Francisco rather than New York or L.A. by offering real encouragement when Andres came through town on a visit. Landing in the Bay Area in early 1999 at the height of the high-tech boom, Andres quickly found work in an array of Latin settings, playing salsa, Latin funk, and Latin jazz. He undertook his first recording under his own name in 2007, motivated by his love of the multidimensional writing of Latin jazz pioneers Tito Puente and Eddie Palmieri, and has been developing the Cartel concept ever since. This month he placed among the Top 20 drummers in the Down Beat Readers Poll, right behind Eric Harland, Dave Weckl, and Cindy Blackman Santana. "It's an honor to have so many world-class musicians on the new album," says Andres. "That they all were willing to contribute to the recording is a testament to the high quality of music that we've created." Photography: Ricardo Tellez Web Site: brianandres.com