Latin Jazz Meets Cuban Circle Dancing, Saturday April 25!

Join the Alexa Weber Morales Band with special guests Sidney Weaverling and Ryan Mead of Rueda Con Ritmo for our third show of an ongoing series.

The fun starts Saturday, April 26 at 8 pm at Senzala, a delicious, spacious Brazilian eatery and cultural center located at 250 E. Java Dr. in Sunnyvale, Calif. Tickets are $12 and include a Cuban circle dance class, two sets by the Alexa Weber Morales Band, and an Afro-Cuban dance performance by Rueda Con Ritmo! Senzala is an all-ages venue and children are welcome.

Senzala is fast becoming a hot-spot for Latin American and Brazilian dance and music events, and has expanded their event schedule to a new night: Thursdays! Peninsula residents are urged to spread the word that affordable, high-energy and family-friendly fun is now in the neighborhood!

ABOUT RUEDA CON RITMO

Ryan and Sidney have made it their life's work to explore, perform and educate in the field of Afro-Cuban music. But why collaborate with a band when there's so much Cuban music on CD?

"I definitely prefer to dance to live music. There's such great potential for interaction and synergy between the musicians and the dancers," says Ryan. "I've experienced this as both a dancer and a musician -- the two groups feed off of each other, and the energy really grows."

"Listening to latin dance music, particularly the contemporary Cuban dance music called Timba, is very inspiring for both of us. The music is fresh and vibrant and the arrangements are truly masterful," explains Sidney.

"Many Timba songs are like musical stories. They take you on a journey. Some of my favorite songs begin with the flavor of an older style such as Cuban Son or Rumba and build the energy gradually until the musicians have riled the dancers into a frenetic ectasy with a more contemorary Timba sound, mixing Salsa, Hip Hop, Reggaeton, Jazz, Funk and R&B. The music gives us so much inspiration as choreographers. It allows us to take the audience on a visual journey so that they can see how each of the musical styles might be interpreted physically. Hopefully then the audience members will be inspired to get up and dance, too!"

ABOUT THE ALEXA WEBER MORALES BAND

Since 2004, multilingual singer-songwriter Alexa Weber Morales has made six studio recordings, including her two solo albums, Jazzmérica and Vagabundeo. The latter, named “one of the greatest Bay Area recordings in recent times” by Latin Beat magazine, made top-20 airplay nationwide and received acclaim from around the world. Rio de Janeiro–based producer Arnaldo DeSouteiro (João Gilberto, Luiz Bonfá) calls her original compositions “rhythmically captivating and entrancing.” A June 2008 DownBeat review of Vagabundeo enthuses, “Her large-scale skill and talent encourages her all-inclusive dreams” and praises her “gorgeous articulation, flowing time sense and warm tone.”

Murray Low is a 30-year veteran pianist on the Bay Area jazz scene. Though he is a tireless performer, recording artist, and arranger, he is best known for his work with Pete Escovedo (since 1994); Grammy-nominated John Santos and the Machete Ensemble (since 2000); and Andy Narell, the pioneering steel pan player. His multifaceted career has also included international performances with Tito Puente, Bob Mintzer, Sheila E, Benny Golson, John Patitucci, George Duke, and many others.

Born in Uruguay in 1960, Edgardo Cambon moved to Europe in 1982 where he toured and performed with well known Swedish group, "Latin Lover." In Amsterdam, Holland, he began studying the difficult coordination of drumming and singing simultaneously, performing with the local bands "Evolution 2000", "Rubén Salas Orquestra", "Salsa Charanga" and his own group "Bululú". Traveling to Cuba, he studied with master drummers Jose Luis "Changuito" Quintana, Justo Pelladito and Vizcaino Guillot and has participated in the Havana Jazz Festival and the Benny Moré Festival. He has taught at several University of California campuses and given workshops throughout the US, South America and Europe.

David Pinto is a Peruvian native probably best-known for his work as musical director, arranger and bassist with Grammy-winner Susana Baca, champion of Afro-Peruvian song. Other credits include Olga Guillot, Alex Acuña and Bay Area band leaders Edgardo Cambón and producer Wayne Wallace. He has played more than 800 festivals around the world.