Omar Sosa at The Freight

7-time GRAMMY-nominated pianist Omar Sosa has forged a distinctive path in music, fusing an array of jazz, world music, hip-hop, and electronic elements with his AfroCuban roots. Omar’s debut performance at Freight & Salvage will be with his primary touring band, Quarteto AfroCubano, in continuing support of his 2015 CD, ILE. The band features Cuban drummer Raul Pineda, Cuban saxophonist Leandro Saint-Hill, and Mozambican electric bassist Childo Tomas. ILE means home, or earth, in the Yoruba language of West Africa, and it is to the Latin Jazz roots of his native Cuba that Omar returns for inspiration on this project. The CD offers contemporary interpretations of some of the classic Cuban musical styles the world has come to admire....

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7-time GRAMMY-nominated pianist Omar Sosa has forged a distinctive path in music, fusing an array of jazz, world music, hip-hop, and electronic elements with his AfroCuban roots. Omar’s debut performance at Freight & Salvage will be with his primary touring band, Quarteto AfroCubano, in continuing support of his 2015 CD, ILE. The band features Cuban drummer Raul Pineda, Cuban saxophonist Leandro Saint-Hill, and Mozambican electric bassist Childo Tomas. ILE means home, or earth, in the Yoruba language of West Africa, and it is to the Latin Jazz roots of his native Cuba that Omar returns for inspiration on this project. The CD offers contemporary interpretations of some of the classic Cuban musical styles the world has come to admire.

Omar Sosa received a lifetime achievement award from the Smithsonian in 2003. He is a prolific composer and charismatic bandleader, whose work entwines the expressive traditions of Africa and the Americas in a unique cosmopolitan voice - articulating a brilliant, joyous, and thoroughly contemporary global jazz idiom. His career embodies the expansive outlook of a visionary artist, working ceaselessly to craft a singular, urban sound.

The New York Times writes: “Sosa’s music is the unifying sort, yoking together Africa and jazz and Latin America and hip-hop. He makes it work, being one of those rare birds whose keyboard skills are near those of Chick Corea or Chucho Valdés.” Renowned American composer John Adams writes: “Sosa is a deeply creative musician with an extraordinary harmonic sense. His piano playing is sui generis: it has obvious roots in Cuban music, but he’s taken his approach to the keyboard into completely new regions.”

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