SF Bay Living Musically Large

There is now a well deserved focus on the SF Bay Area Latin/Salsa scene since Pacific Mambo Orchestra won the grammy award for Best Tropical Latin recording.  The bay area has been a mecca for great musicians, bands and dj’s for quite a number of years.  Perhaps the best kept secret in the United States since most of the attention goes to New York (which has been fading as an influential spot for years), Miami and Los Angeles.  Great musicians such as Louie Romero, Orestes Vilato, John Santos, Rebeca Mauleon, Jesus Diaz, John Calloway, Carlos Caro, Karl Perrazo, Anthony Blea, Marco Diaz, Bill Ortiz, and that’s just scratching the surface of a rich scene here, have made the Bay Area their base of operations for many years!  It has been a hot bed of activity with new recordings coming out by Marco Diaz, Julio Bravo, The Latin Rhythm Boys, John Santos and his many projects including the new recording by 78 year old Cuban vocalist Ernesto Oviedo and the Salsa De La Bahia project spearheaded by Wayne Wallace and Rita Hargrave.  Clubs, salsa dance socials, festivals and concerts by major artists are commonplace in the SF Bay.  And that’s just in the Salsa scene.  All genres of music continue to thrive with great contributions of all the fine musicians that live and work here.  Let’s continue to bathe in the collective sunshine!

Originally posted Feb.8, 2014