Jazz from Mexico Gabriel Espinosa and Hendrik Meurkens at Tucson Jazz Festival at Rialto Theatre

Mexican bassist GABRIEL ESPINOSA and German harmonica player and vibraphonist HENDRIK MEURKENS have established a relationship that seems to allow them to make recordings as if they have known each other for years. This partnership has yielded two albums on the Zoho label: Celebrando and Samba Little Samba (2014). Meurkens is fast becoming a superstar on both harmonica and vibraphone but on the harmonica he is now the bona fide heir apparent to Toots Thielemans, the great Belgian who started it all. On vibraphone Meurkens’ wonderful dynamics and great warmth of expression makes him an instrumentalist to reckon with...

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Mexican bassist GABRIEL ESPINOSA and German harmonica player and vibraphonist HENDRIK MEURKENS have established a relationship that seems to allow them to make recordings as if they have known each other for years. This partnership has yielded two albums on the Zoho label: Celebrando and Samba Little Samba (2014). Meurkens is fast becoming a superstar on both harmonica and vibraphone but on the harmonica he is now the bona fide heir apparent to Toots Thielemans, the great Belgian who started it all. On vibraphone Meurkens’ wonderful dynamics and great warmth of expression makes him an instrumentalist to reckon with. Espinosa, who began on guitar at age 6 and played bass at age 14, is a graduate of Berklee College of Music and North Texas State University and teaches jazz at his first alma mater, Central College in Iowa. He formed a group, Ashanti, at Berklee in 1983 and performed for several years with the band in Cancun Mexico. Ashanti Mundo still performs for festivals in Mexico and elsewhere.

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