Wednesday, May 17, 2023, 6-8:30pm will continue our music series held at El Cerrito Natural Grocery Company Prepared Food Annex (The Annex)  – “The Annex Sessions”

Javier Navarrette’s Latin Jazz Trio featuring:

Anthony Blea- violin

Marco Diaz – piano

Javier Navarrette – percussion

Danceable Latin Jazz music with infectious “Charanga Grooves”!

Javier Navarrette – is a professional percussionist, musician, composer, arranger and educator living in Oakland, California, specializing in Afro-Caribbean music. Javier’s performance and recording career spans over three decades.

Amongst the many greats he has played with are: Poncho Sanchez; Los Van Van; the Conga Kings: Francisco Aguabella, Carlos “Patáto” Valdez, and Milton Cardona; as well as with jazz, Javier received the artist scholarship award with Plaza Cuba Travels to study music at La Escuela Nacional de Arte in Habana, Cuba.

Javier has been teaching with Living Jazz Children’s Music Project in the Oakland public schools and at the summer Jam Camp for Children.

Javier produces Modúpue Sundays with Arts at the Basin, Rocky’s Market, Brooklyn Basin, Oakland, and the Neighborhood Sessions at The Annex in El Cerrito, both musical events presenting the Bay Area’s legendary musicians in the Afro-Latin music Scene.

Anthony Blea -skill on the violin landed him work with many international legends such as Israel “Cachao” Lopez, Ray Charles, Boz Scaggs and Leonard Bernstein to name a few. Most notably Anthony has played with the San Francisco Opera Orchestra.

Marco Diaz – is an accomplished recording musician who has shared the stage with Grammy Award winning artist, Israel “Cachao” Lopez, Nelson Gonzales, Jimmy Bosch, Pete “El Conde” Rodriguez, Ska Cubano (Europe), Tito Rojas, Nino Segarra, Anthony Cruz, Anthony Blea, Jovino Santos Neto, Joe Santiago, and is an integral member of the John Santos sextet and the musical director for Bobi Cespedes. while also co-leading Vission Latina, an Afro-Caribbean dance band, VL Trio, and his own group.

The Natural Grocery Company is proud to present this series in partnership with SunJams and Javier Navarrette Music.

SunJams is committed to funding children’s music education in underserved public elementary schools. Your donation will help support this ongoing program.

All of the proceeds will go directly to our network of local musicians, each of whom have been severely impacted by the lack of events during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Whether you donate $10, $100, or $1000 – any amount helps and will allow us to keep bringing music to our community! As always, your donation to SunJams 501(c)3 may qualify as tax exempt.

Javier Navarrette Music continues to bring live music to several venues around the Bay Area. Javier has been a professional musician and music educator in the Oakland Unified School District for the past 20 years. Over the past few years Navarrette has produced outdoors events that have proven instrumental in enabling musicians to deal with some of the fallout of the pandemic and shutdown that followed.

COVID RELATED SAFETY MEASURES

Please be safe. Feel free to wear a mask if you prefer.

TICKETS

Tickets are NOT required for this venue, you can simply come in, order food and beverages at the Annex counter and pay at the registers.

Wednesday, May 17, 2023, 6-8:30pm will continue our music series held at El Cerrito Natural Grocery Company Prepared Food Annex (The Annex) 10387 San Pablo Avenue, El Cerrito  – “The Annex Sessions”

Ruben Blanco Hurtado Trio

Ruben Blanco Hurtado ~ piano & flute

Carlitos Medrano ~ percussion

Steve Senft-Herrera ~ bass

Guest Musician: Sandra Poindextor ~ violin

Cuban Music including Cuban Classics, Cha Cha Chas, Boleros & Latin Jazz

Ruben Blanco Hurtado, in the early 90s worked in house bands in San Jose California playing what was called tropical music. Beginning in the 2000s, he worked
with Fito Reynoso for a number of years playing Cuban music. Then he joined Tito Gonzales y Su Son playing more traditional Cuban dance music. Also around this time he started his own project playing Cuban classics, dance songs , cha cha chas , boleros, and some Latin jazz.

The Natural Grocery Company is proud to present this series in partnership with SunJams and Javier Navarrette Music.

SunJams is committed to funding children’s music education in underserved public elementary schools. Your donation will help support this ongoing program.

All of the proceeds will go directly to our network of local musicians, each of whom have been severely impacted by the lack of events during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Whether you donate $10, $100, or $1000 – any amount helps and will allow us to keep bringing music to our community! As always, your donation to SunJams 501(c)3 may qualify as tax exempt.

Javier Navarrette Music continues to bring live music to several venues around the Bay Area. Javier has been a professional musician and music educator in the Oakland Unified School District for the past 20 years. Over the past few years Navarrette has produced outdoors events that have proven instrumental in enabling musicians to deal with some of the fallout of the pandemic and shutdown that followed.

COVID RELATED SAFETY MEASURES

Please be safe. Feel free to wear a mask if you prefer.

TICKETS

Tickets are NOT required for this venue, you can simply come in, order food and beverages at the Annex counter and pay at the registers.

Wednesday, May 3, 2023, 6-8:30pm will continue our music series held at El Cerrito Natural Grocery Company Prepared Food Annex (The Annex) 10387 San Pablo Avenue, El Cerrito  – “The Annex Sessions”

Soji Sai

Nigerian guitar master and singer Adesoji “Soji” Odukogbe has the distinction of being amember of Fela Anikulapo Kuti’s Egypt 80 band during the 1980’s. As Fela Kuti’s lead guitarist, Soji draws on an extensive background in Nigerian Afrobeat, highlife, and spiritual music, bringing a unique sensibility to his West African guitar interpretations. Since settling down in the SF Bay Area, Soji has been active in the African music scene, and is a founding member of The Afrobeat Connexion and The Nigerian Brothers, as well as being a supporting musician for various acts such as The West African Highlife Band and Kotoja. He has recorded and played with Femi Kuti, Babatunde Olatunji and Orlando Julius Ekemode, among others.

Jerry Kennedy Bassist, vocalist, bandleader educator. Jerry Kennedy has opened for and toured with the likes of James Brown, George Clinton and many others in the old school funk world. He has worked in the Bay Area as a bass player, bandleader and singer for the past 20 years and continues to be a force on the scene.

Tosin Aribisala An international rhythm master with infectious groove sensibility, the Nigerian-born drummer, composer, vocalist – Tosin Aribisala – extends his deep roots in the colorful polyrhythms of Africa to other global rhythmic spectrum, from jazz to gospel, from rock to funk. Tosin’s recent single “The Big Illusion” demonstrates the possible cross-cultural musical exchange between Africa and Latin America, featuring Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra. Furthermore, Tosin’s “Drum Monologue” compositions continue to inspire drummers across demographic and cultural lines. Tosin’s talent has been shared with artists like Femi Kuti, Taj Mahal, Fatoumata Diawara, Spyro Gyra, and many more.

Kim Agnew is a multi-disciplined percussionist, dancer, choreographer, visual artist and educator. Kim has a degree in Fine Arts, combined with decades of dance studies and performance guided by master teachers from around the world.

Soji Sai Afrobeat & Highlife is Soji’s solo project, featuring a ferocious 10-piece plus

band playing pure Afrobeat a la Fela Kuti – including a smoking horn section, intricate vocal harmonies, and a dance inducing rhythm section, as well as Highlife and Palm Wine Music. Soji and the band sets the dance floors afire with a churning, polyrhythmic style that Soji simply calls, “authentic original Afrobeat like Fela’s type of music, the traditional Afrobeat that nobody does” in a world of endless Afro-fusions. Mixing in his own originals as well as some covers of Fela Kuti’s visionary music, Soji Sai Afrobeat & Highlife provides a pure Nigerian Dance Party – guaranteed to get your feet and hips moving!

Please join us for this more intimate quartet experience!

The Natural Grocery Company is proud to present this series in partnership with SunJams and Javier Navarrette Music.

SunJams is committed to funding children’s music education in underserved public elementary schools. Your donation will help support this ongoing program.

All of the proceeds will go directly to our network of local musicians, each of whom have been severely impacted by the lack of events during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Whether you donate $10, $100, or $1000 – any amount helps and will allow us to keep bringing music to our community! As always, your donation to SunJams 501(c)3 may qualify as tax exempt.

Javier Navarrette Music continues to bring live music to several venues around the Bay Area. Javier has been a professional musician and music educator in the Oakland Unified School District for the past 20 years. Over the past few years Navarrette has produced outdoors events that have proven instrumental in enabling musicians to deal with some of the fallout of the pandemic and shutdown that followed.

COVID RELATED SAFETY MEASURES

Please be safe. Feel free to wear a mask if you prefer.

TICKETS

Tickets are NOT required for this venue, you can simply come in, order food and beverages at the Annex counter and pay at the registers.

Wednesday, April 19, 2023, 6-8:30pm will continue our music series held at El Cerrito Natural Grocery Company Prepared Food Annex (The Annex)  – “The Annex Sessions”

Bululú: Sabor Tropical Latino!

Lali Mejia – Band Leader/Percussion

Sofia Magdalena – Vocalist

Ayla Davila – Muscial Director/Bass

Kai Lyons – Strings

Jose Gregorio Kansau – Vocalist

A dynamic Latin music band showcasing a live and flavorful repertoire deeply rooted in Venezuelan and Caribbean influences. Get ready for an evening of calypsos, salsa, sones, porros, boleros and beyond!

The Natural Grocery Company is proud to present this series in partnership with SunJams and Javier Navarrette Music.

SunJams is committed to funding children’s music education in underserved public elementary schools. Your donation will help support this ongoing program.

All of the proceeds will go directly to our network of local musicians, each of whom have been severely impacted by the lack of events during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Whether you donate $10, $100, or $1000 – any amount helps and will allow us to keep bringing music to our community! As always, your donation to SunJams 501(c)3 may qualify as tax exempt.

Javier Navarrette Music continues to bring live music to several venues around the Bay Area. Javier has been a professional musician and music educator in the Oakland Unified School District for the past 20 years. Over the past few years Navarrette has produced outdoors events that have proven instrumental in enabling musicians to deal with some of the fallout of the pandemic and shutdown that followed.

COVID RELATED SAFETY MEASURES

Please be safe. Feel free to wear a mask if you prefer.

TICKETS

Tickets are NOT required for this venue, you can simply come in, order food and beverages at the Annex counter and pay at the registers.

Wednesday, April 5, 2023, 6-8:30pm will continue our music series held at El Cerrito Natural Grocery Company Prepared Food Annex (The Annex)  – “The Annex Sessions”

The Dans of Steel Trio

Waddell Bell – bass, vocals

Ronnie Smith – drums, vocals

Raliegh Neal – keyboards, vocals

Sitting In: Bill Hampton on guitar (a Bay Area legend) … exciting!!

Possible appearances by

Malcolm Marshall – Vocals

Dave Shul – guitar

Make tonight a wonderful thing with The Dans of Steel…

Bay Area based band The Dans of Steel celebrates the music of Steely Dan, the prolific American rock band founded in 1972 by masterminds Donald Fagen and Walter Becker.

Started in 2017, it’s a deserving tribute from five deeply soulful musicians who came together in admiration of the detailed craftings and artistic splendor of Steely Dan.

The Dans of Steel — Waddell Bell, Ronnie Smith, Dave Shul, Malcolm Marshall and Raliegh Neal — explore, “funkafy” and lovingly recreate songs from throughout the Steely Dan canon that brings together jazz, rock, and r&b sensibilities.

As seasoned musicians, they look to the actual session players that enrich each album Steely Dan has produced.

The Dans, all of them fathers (and at times Men of Steel in their everyday lives), enjoy heated conversations and long listening sessions together. Having a reverence for Steely Dan’s body of work, they often go deep into the large list of supporting musicians who lend their talents to creating the music’s aesthetic, including the individual guitarists, bassist, drummers, pianists and vocalists.

The band aims to go beyond just Donald Fagen and Walter Becker by reaching in the bag of the often-unsung session musicians, whose skills created the groves, riffs, vibes and arrangements that still thrill us today.  Members of bands like The Crusaders, The Doobie Brothers, Toto, Weather Report and so many others.

The music and compositions of the support musicians can be related back to the Steely Dan discography and in turn we begin to see how truly prolific this music was and still is.

The Natural Grocery Company is proud to present this series in partnership with SunJams and Javier Navarrette Music.

SunJams is committed to funding children’s music education in underserved public elementary schools. Your donation will help support this ongoing program.

All of the proceeds will go directly to our network of local musicians, each of whom have been severely impacted by the lack of events during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Whether you donate $10, $100, or $1000 – any amount helps and will allow us to keep bringing music to our community! As always, your donation to SunJams 501(c)3 may qualify as tax exempt.

Javier Navarrette Music continues to bring live music to several venues around the Bay Area. Javier has been a professional musician and music educator in the Oakland Unified School District for the past 20 years. Over the past few years Navarrette has produced outdoors events that have proven instrumental in enabling musicians to deal with some of the fallout of the pandemic and shutdown that followed.

COVID RELATED SAFETY MEASURES

Please be safe. Feel free to wear a mask if you prefer.

TICKETS

Tickets are NOT required for this venue, you can simply come in, order food and beverages at the Annex counter and pay at the registers.

Wednesday, March 15, 2023, 6-8:30pm will continue our music series held at El Cerrito Natural Grocery Company Prepared Food Annex (The Annex)  – “The Annex Sessions”

Barrio Manouche Trio

Javi Jiménez – Guitar and Vocals

Ross Howe – Guitar

Luis Jiménez – Cajón and Percussions

Founded by the Spanish guitarist and composer Javi Jiménez, the group consists of
a singular musical body that combines the instrumentation and signature of Jazz
Manouche, Modern Jazz, Flamenco and Latin-American rhythms.
Based in San Francisco, CA the acoustic ensemble performs a repertoire of original
compositions with an emotionally charged sound that is difficult to classify but
instantly recognizable.

Barrio’s international roots shine brightly in their music with members from Spain,
Quebec, Colombia, France, Brazil and the United States. They are deeply influenced
by a wide range of musical traditions, and this is how the group’s unique sound is
born.

Barrio Manouche provides a tremendous live experience and transports its audience
on a magical journey, with a unique fusion of cultures and musical landscapes… an
auditory and visual feast like no other.

The Natural Grocery Company is proud to present this series in partnership with SunJams and Javier Navarrette Music.

SunJams is committed to funding children’s music education in underserved public elementary schools. Your donation will help support this ongoing program.

All of the proceeds will go directly to our network of local musicians, each of whom have been severely impacted by the lack of events during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Whether you donate $10, $100, or $1000 – any amount helps and will allow us to keep bringing music to our community! As always, your donation to SunJams 501(c)3 may qualify as tax exempt.

Javier Navarrette Music continues to bring live music to several venues around the Bay Area. Javier has been a professional musician and music educator in the Oakland Unified School District for the past 20 years. Over the past few years Navarrette has produced outdoors events that have proven instrumental in enabling musicians to deal with some of the fallout of the pandemic and shutdown that followed.

COVID RELATED SAFETY MEASURES

Please be safe. Feel free to wear a mask if you prefer.

TICKETS

Tickets are NOT required for this venue, you can simply come in, order food and beverages at the Annex counter and pay at the registers.

Wednesday, March 1, 2023, 6-8:30pm will continue our music series held at El Cerrito Natural Grocery Company Prepared Food Annex (The Annex)  – “The Annex Sessions”

Josh Jones Latin Jazz Trio

Josh Jones – Drums
Chloë Scott Jones – Flute/Percussin
Colin Hogan – Keys/Bass

Josh Jones

Drummer & Percussionist Josh Jones is recognized internationally from his touring and recording with Don Cherry, Steve Coleman, and Omar Sosa. He also supports Latin Jazz artists when they come to town including Cuban royalty Chuchito Valdes, Yosvany Terry, Carlos del Puerto, Kali Rodriguez, Nestor Torres and Mezcla. His recent recording projects include “Then and Now” with Blue Note recording artist Benny Green, as well as a project with Chuchito Valdes. Other notable recordings include Yosvany Terry & Columna B, Peter Apfelbaum, Steve Bernstein, Chico Freeman, Arthur Blythe, Larry Coryell, Tupac Shakur, Zion-I, Taj Mahal, Bob Weir, and AfroCuba de Matanzas. Josh continues to perform with his various ensembles at clubs and festivals in the Bay Area and remains a major influence on the jazz community not only as a performer, but as a highly respected educator.

Chloë Scott Jones

Born In London and raised in San Francisco, Chloë now lives in Oakland and plays Jazz, Latin Jazz and Afro-Cuban music with various groups throughout the Bay Area. Some recent notable performances include Taylor Eigsti’s project “Imagine Our Future” featuring Lisa Fischer & Eric Harland, as well as John Calloway’s “Flute Odyssey,” in addition to many music series @ SFJAZZ. Chloë studied with Yaada Weber at the San Francisco Conservatory for many years, and went on to earn a Bachelor of Music in Flute Performance from San Francisco State, studying with SF Symphony’s own Linda Lukas.

Colin Hogan

Colin was born in San Francisco and was a member of the world-renowned Berkeley High School Jazz Ensemble, while also studying with the Jazz School’s founder, Susan Muscarella. He then attended Cal State East Bay (Hayward) where he earned a BA in Piano Performance. Colin has performed on five continents with many legendary musicians including Larry Graham, David Garibaldi, Lenny Pickett, Roy Ayers, James Moody, Too $hort, Peter Erskine, DJ Qbert, Kurt Elling, and Maria Schneider. Colin is currently involved in many projects including The Tommy Igoe Groove Conspiracy, The Jazz Mafia, Mads Tolling and the Mads Men, Oakadelic, and The Hogan Brothers with brothers Steve and Julian. He currently lives in Oakland, CA.

The Natural Grocery Company is proud to present this series in partnership with SunJams and Javier Navarrette Music.

SunJams is committed to funding children’s music education in underserved public elementary schools. Your donation will help support this ongoing program.

In addition, we need to raise funds to continue bringing you this exciting new live music program. All of the proceeds will go directly to our network of local musicians, each of whom have been severely impacted by the lack of events during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Whether you donate $10, $100, or $1000 – any amount helps and will allow us to keep bringing music to our community! As always, your donation to SunJams 501(c)3 may qualify as tax exempt.

Javier Navarrette Music continues to bring live music to several venues around the Bay Area. Javier has been a professional musician and music educator in the Oakland Unified School District for the past 20 years. Over the past few years Navarrette has produced outdoors events that have proven instrumental in enabling musicians to deal with some of the fallout of the pandemic and shutdown that followed.

COVID RELATED SAFETY MEASURES

Please be safe. Feel free to wear a mask if you prefer.

TICKETS

Tickets are NOT required for this venue, you can simply come in, order food and beverages at the Annex counter and pay at the registers.

Wednesday, February 15, 2023, 6-8:30pm will continue our music series held at El Cerrito Natural Grocery Company Prepared Food Annex (The Annex)  – “The Annex Sessions”

DíaPaSón is an ensemble of musicians and dancers who specialize in Mexican folk music and dance,particularly the son jarocho, in the interest of promoting and preserving the cultural treasures of Mexican folkloric traditions. DíaPaSón artists are active in the rich sonero community of the Bay Area and have collectively and individually studied the son art form with internationally renowned master artists of son jarocho. DíaPaSón often has the honor of having master artists from Mexico perform in its programs and collaborate in projects. The ensemble is under the directorship of María de la Rosa.

Each experience of DíaPaSón is a polyrhythmic delight of lyric and melodic improvisation. Voices accompanied by primarily stringed and percussive handcrafted instruments of natural materials create a dynamic, rustic sound that tells ancient and modern tales of love, courtship, happiness and the beauties of life as well as injustice, loss, and death. Hundreds of years old, the son jarocho is a living, contemporary art form that continues to evolve with time and under the influences of trans-cultural exchange and inter- generational dialogue.

Since 2010, DíaPaSón has appeared on prestigious stages throughout California and Mexico including: Oakland Museum of California, De Young Museum, Mexican Heritage Plaza, La Peña Cultural Center and others, including opening for Son de Madera at the 2nd annual San Francisco Son Jarocho Festival and for Caña Dulce y Caña Brava at the 6th annual San Francisco Son Jarocho Festival, both at the Brava Theater. In 2016, DíaPaSón joined the National Performance Network (NPN) touring roster after completion of works commissioned by the NPN Creation Fund and a two-week artist residency at La Peña Cultural Center subsidized by NPN. In 2017, the ensemble completed intensive workshops with legendary son jarocho master Patricio Hidalgo and opened the concert “Floreando Nuevas Fronteras” also featuring Patricio Hidalgo and Los Hermanos Vega in the culmination of an artistic residency project by María de la Rosa that was funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. The ensemble performed virtually in projects presented during the pandemic shutdown and over the last two years, has completed virtual and hybrid projects through the City of Oakland’s Neighborhood Voices project while emerging back to live performances throughout the Bay Area and beyond.

We are proud to present this series in partnership with SunJams and Javier Navarrette Music.

SunJams is committed to funding children’s music education in underserved public elementary schools. Your donation will help support this ongoing program.

In addition, we need to raise funds to continue bringing you this exciting new live music program. All of the proceeds will go directly to our network of local musicians, each of whom have been severely impacted by the lack of events during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Whether you donate $10, $100, or $1000 – any amount helps and will allow us to keep bringing music to our community! As always, your donation to SunJams 501(c)3 may qualify as tax exempt.

Javier Navarrette Music continues to bring live music to several venues around the Bay Area. Javier has been a professional musician and music educator in the Oakland Unified School District for the past 20 years. Over the past few years Navarrette has produced outdoors events that have proven instrumental in enabling musicians to deal with some of the fallout of the pandemic and shutdown that followed.

COVID RELATED SAFETY MEASURES

Please be safe. Feel free to wear a mask if you prefer.

TICKETS

Tickets are NOT required for this venue, you can simply come in, order food and beverages at the Annex counter and pay at the registers.

Wednesday February 1, 5-7:30pm will continue our music series at El Cerrito Natural Grocery Company Prepared Food Annex (The Annex). The Annex Sessions are held on first and third Wednesdays. The Bob Crawford Trio will draw from a diverse repertoire, weaving Cuban, Brazilian and Jazz. This ensemble will bring you individual virtuosity and group creativity.

The series is co-produced by Sunjams, Javier Navarrette Music and The Natural Grocery Company. 

The Bob Crawford Trio is

Bob Crawford- keys

Julio de la Cruz- bass

Colin Douglas – drums

Musicians Bios-

Bob Crawford was born in Long Beach California and raised in the Bay Area with his 12 brothers and sisters. Primarily self taught, he started playing in bands with his saxophone playing twin brother during their college years. After graduating, Bob gained experience in various Bay Area ensembles, playing jazz, funk, Latin and Brazilian music. In 2001 he was offered the keyboard chair in Michael Franti’s band Spearhead. Bob logged multiple tours throughout the United States, Australia, Canada, Europe and Japan. Bob also recorded on several of Spearhead’s albums and appeared on a number of international TV programs with the band. Also with Spearhead, Bob found himself performing with a who’s who of international stars, including Tre Anastasio, Me’Shell NDegeOcello, Chuck D, Ani DiFranco, Jack Johnson, Robert Randolph, Woody Harrleson, Mixmaster Mike, as well as members of Ozomatli, Zap Mama, and Galactic.

Bob took a break from extensive touring to spend time with his family, and to pursue his own musical vision. Now residing in the East Bay, Bob continues to perform and record with a variety of artists, including Fito Reinoso y su Ritmo y Armonia, Mazacote, Boca De Rio, Greg Errico (Sly and the Family Stone), Ray Obiedo, Pete Escovedo, Lee Oskar (War), Lenny Williams and Mic Gillette (Tower of Power), Pedrito Calvo (Los Van Van) Richard Bean (Malo), The New York Gypsy Allstars, as well as members of El Chicano, Santana, Tierra, Big Brother and the Holding Company, and many more.

Recently, Bob has served as the musical director for the Latin Kings Allstar band, which features members from Tower of Power, Malo, and The Whispers. He has worked with the fantastic Alayo Dance Company and the Stagebridge Theatre Group. He has also worked for two years with the San Francisco Symphony’s “Adventures in Music” program, bringing music to every public elementary school in San Francisco. Bob also leads his own piano trio, and is founding member of the latin jazz-funk band Machina Sol.

Julio De la Cruz was born and raised in Havana, Cuba. In 1980 at the age of 12, he first began his studies as a musician, specializing in percussion instruments while simultaneously studying music theory and composition.

From 1987 to 1992, Julio participated in several projects and festivals in Havana and other provinces in Cuba. In 1992 left Cuba to perform on tour with the Puerto Rican Singer José Feliciano as part of the released production: “Calle Latina.”

From 1993 to 2009, Julio moved to Mexico, where he lived and worked accompanying Celia Sanchez, one of the famous Sonora matancera singers, along with Salsa Queen Celia Cruz. Julio then moved to Los Cabos ( also in Mexico), where he became part of the house band rocker Sammy Hagar’s club Cabo Wabo and accompanied American guest performers such as Toby Keith and Sammy Hagar himself, among others.

During this time in Mexico, Julio continued to perfect his skills as a percussionist but also taught himself to play the Piano and Bass, making him a multi-instrumentalist performer. In 2009, Julio moved to The United States, joining many bands in the San Francisco Bay area in California. Julio plays with the Pacific Mambo Orchesta.

GRAMMY nominated drummer/percussionist Colin Douglas was born in New York City into a musical family. As the son of a music producer, her grew up experimenting with many different instruments and soon settled on drums and percussion. He went on to study percussion at both the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music as well as the Manhattan School of Music, where he worked extensively in both the classical percussion and jazz drumset programs.

After college Colin became interseted in the world of Latin percussion and studied both in Cuba, as well as with many master percussionists in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he has lived and played professionally for years.

Mr. Douglas has performed and recorded with a diverse group of musicians ranging from Latin acts such as Jesus Diaz Y Su QBA, Ray Obiedo, and the Wayne Wallace Latin Jazz Quintet (with whom Mr. Douglas recieved a Grammy Nomination in 2013), to R&B and Rock acts such as Donna Summer and Slash.