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John Santos - Red Hot Afro-Cuban Jazz!

"Santos has placed the Bay Area on the cutting edge of Latin Jazz."
- Lee Hildebrand, East Bay Express

"Santos has been faithfully carrying the Latin Jazz torch ... for years. He has generally been a sparkplug for ...musical invention at the vortex where Jazz, Latin and other ideas meet."
Jazz Times

"Master percussionist Santos has made sensitivity, originality and virtuosic grasp of Afro-Cuban musical forms the touchstone of his work."
Tempo

John Santos is one of the foremost exponents of Afro-Latin music in the world today, known and admired for his innovative use of traditional forms in fiery fusions with jazz and other contemporary forms.

For years the leader of the legendary Machete Ensemble, Santos has performed and recorded with acknowledged masters of the Afro-Latin and Jazz idioms such as Dizzy Gillespie, Tito Puente, Eddie Palmieri, Patato ValdÃ©s, Orestes VilatÃ³, Max Roach and Milton Cardona.

For three exciting nights, Santos brings to Pearl's a performance of Clasicos Criollos: Classic Latin Jazz from Cuba, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and the US, with a quintet including Orestes VilatÃ³ - timbales, bongos, Saul Sierra - bass, Marco Diaz - piano and John Calloway â flute, percussion.

Percussionist, composer, writer and educator John Santos was raised in the Puerto Rican and Cape Verdean and Irish traditions of his family, surrounded by music, and his career has been shaped by the the fertile musical environment of the San Francisco Bay Area. His studies of Afro-Latin music have included several trips to New York, Puerto Rico, Cuba and Colombia.

A distinguished and creative multi-percussionist and recording artist, Santos' diverse credits include: Grupo Mezcla (Havana, Cuba), Irakere West, Santana, Cal Tjader, Charlie Hunter, Danilo Perez, Linda Tillery, Ignacio Berroa, Omar Sosa, Bobby Hutcherson, McCoy Tyner, Lalo Schifrin, Jon Jang, Yma Sumac, Pete and Sheila Escovedo, Mark Murphy, John Faddis, Batacumbele and Batucaje. He was the director of the Orquesta Tipica Cienfuegos (l976-1980) and the Orquesta Batachanga (1981-1985).