{"id":1756,"date":"2015-02-16T21:44:26","date_gmt":"2015-02-17T02:44:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/?p=1756"},"modified":"2015-02-19T13:43:43","modified_gmt":"2015-02-19T18:43:43","slug":"pedrito-martinez-cuba-in-cold-midwest-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2015\/02\/pedrito-martinez-cuba-in-cold-midwest-tour.html","title":{"rendered":"Pedrito Martinez’ Cuba-in-Cold-Midwest tour"},"content":{"rendered":"

Conguero Pedrito Martinez<\/a> brought\u00c2\u00a0his charismatic\u00c2\u00a0Afro-Cuban\u00c2\u00a0quartet to Chicago’s\u00c2\u00a0City Winery<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Pedrito

Pedrito Martinez, photo by Michael Jackson<\/p><\/div>\n

last night (Feb. 15), pleasing an upbeat\u00c2\u00a0crowd at the supper set (and no doubt later show, too) with an up-to-date performance of roots rhythms, solo and group singing and tightly synchronized, syncopated play. Accompanied by fleet keyboardist Edgar Pantoja-Aleman, electric bassist Alvaro Benavides, and percussionist Jhair Sala (mostly on cowbell and bongos), Martinez\u00c2\u00a0slapped, tapped, thumped and bumped his congas and bata drums\u00c2\u00a0to produce\u00c2\u00a0a\u00c2\u00a0party\u00c2\u00a0beat for the present, rather than Santeria rite,\u00c2\u00a0folkloric demonstration or featured bit within a larger salsa orchestra — though one sensed he’d be comfortable presenting himself in\u00c2\u00a0any of those contexts, too.<\/p>\n

This appearance\u00c2\u00a0seems to have been part of the\u00c2\u00a041-year-old\u00c2\u00a0Grammy-nominated<\/a> Martinez’ midwestern mission: he’s just been in Madison and Port Washington, Wisc. (where he inspired\u00c2\u00a0this exemplary blog post <\/a>by Mark “Darkviolin”\u00c2\u00a0Underwood + photo gallery by Steven Sandick)\u00c2\u00a0and in March Pedrito brings his Latin thing\u00c2\u00a0to Moorhead, Minnesota and Mason City and Des Moines, Iowa, visits bound to do folks in those locales good. Quite\u00c2\u00a0evidently he’s a draw, recently contracting to make New York City’s Subrosa<\/a>, a\u00c2\u00a0new hot spot in the meatpacking-district, his band’s home base after\u00c2\u00a0a ten year stand at the eatery Guantanamera in midtown. Nobody in NYC other\u00c2\u00a0than the Vanguard Big Band and Mingus ensembles at the Jazz Standard has a\u00c2\u00a010-year stand. Oh yeah, he announced his upcoming record will be produced by his hero Ruben Blades.<\/p>\n

\"DSCF7877\"<\/a>

Pedrito Martinez, Jhair Sala, Alvaro Benavides and Edgar Pantoja-Aleman @ City Winery Chicago, photo by Jim dJazz<\/p><\/div>\n

There was a poppish, post-Van Van aspect to PMG’s repertoire, as it included close vocal harmonizing, jazzy solos alternating with pseudo string chorus by Pantoja-Aleman, and rough ‘n’ tumble bass. But percussion rules when bright musicians conjure primal recollections via hands on skins and pulsing,\u00c2\u00a0interwoven\u00c2\u00a0rhythms. In the plush surroundings of City Winery Chicago — an artfully designed, airy and oaky supper-club (highly curated\u00c2\u00a0vino list, and try the duck tacos) seemingly twice the size of City Winery New York — PDG motivated hips, shoulders and feet (not necessarily in that sequence) of people at stage side and also rising from their seats. The band showed how to have fun without a lot of fuss. Listeners didn’t have to share the language being sung (though many seemed to), as they felt the music’s rush. And with an afternoon’s light dusting of white stuff covering the grey encrusted crystal slush\u00c2\u00a0of a two week old snowstorm — yeah, the tropical breeziness was easy to love.<\/p>\n

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Conguero Pedrito Martinez brought\u00c2\u00a0his charismatic\u00c2\u00a0Afro-Cuban\u00c2\u00a0quartet to Chicago’s\u00c2\u00a0City Winery last night (Feb. 15), pleasing an upbeat\u00c2\u00a0crowd at the supper set (and no doubt later show, too) with an up-to-date performance of roots rhythms, solo and group singing and tightly synchronized, syncopated play. Accompanied by fleet keyboardist Edgar Pantoja-Aleman, electric bassist Alvaro Benavides, and percussionist Jhair Sala […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1758,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1756","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-main","8":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Pedrito-Martinez-7190-4x6_.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1i3CL-sk","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2014,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2016\/04\/at-the-neas-jazz-masters-ball.html","url_meta":{"origin":1756,"position":0},"title":"At 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