Music News SF Bay Area 2/5/24

February is going to be a busy month for live music aficionados in the SF Bay. Piano icon Chucho Valdes celebrates the 50th Anniversary of his heralded band Irakere at the SFJAZZ Center from Thursday, February 15 through Sunday, February 18. Valdes (pictured left) will lead a band of lions which include legendary drummer Horacio “El Negro” Hernandez. The shows are close to being sold out if they are not sold out already. To check for tickets and get more info, visit www.sfjazz.org.

Salsa superstar Marc Anthony will be visiting the Northern California area on Sunday, February 18, 8 pm at the SAP Center in downtown San Jose. Anthony’s concerts have been sell outs the last couple of years and this show may be sold out as well. Anthony whose recent Salsa material has made his music more eclectic as evidenced by his hit remake of the Africando classic “Yay Boy” and has mixed different genres including ballads, reggaeton and pop dance throughout his long career. Visit ticketron.com and other popular ticket outlets to check if you can still score tickets.

The annual Salsa Rueda Festival is returning to a new venue which is the Holiday Inn/Golden Gateway, 1500 Van Ness Avenue in SF from Friday, Feb 16th through Sunday, Feb. 18th. Headlining the festival on Saturday Feb. 17th will be returning headliners, popular vocalist Emilio Frias El Niño and his band La Verdad direct from Cuba. The last time that El Niño y La Verdad played the festival, they performed an explosive 3 hour set a number of years ago. Popular timba dj’s such as DJ Walt Digz, Juan Love, Dark Rum and Pepe Timba will keep you dancing throughout the festival evenings. The daytime hours will be devoted to Cuban timba, salsa and Rueda dance workshops and the Timbaversity classes that focus on the roots of Cuban music. There will be multiple rooms of dj’s and a Sunday farewell party featuring the SF Cuban All Stars Rumba with the festival dj’s. For more information, go to salsaruedafestival.com.

Orquesta Taino led by vocalist/timbalero Aaron Routtenberg (Orquesta Borinquen) played their farewell dance/concert this past Saturday night at Yoshi’s in Oakland. Routtenberg has led this hard hitting salsa ensemble for the past 14 years. Taino has backed up the likes of Eddie Palmieri’s lead vocalist Herman Olivera and trombone titan Jimmy Bosch. Routtenberg decided to break up the band after the Yoshi’s show to follow a religious path in his life. Good luck in your life journey, Aaron!

Renowned percussionist/bandleader Michael Spiro debuted his new project Spirology at the California Jazz Conservatory in late January. The new project combines the sacred bata drums with the music of the danzon along with the repertoire of the great charangas. Spiro is hopeful that he will record this new band that features members of Orquesta La Moderna Tradicion including Miguel Martinez, Dr. John Calloway, Remy Spiro, Steve Heft-Herrera, pianist, Osvaldo Carabajal and Pablo Caro.