Claudia Acuña News

Kindrid spirits: Elis Regina, Abbey Lincoln, Victor Jara
Show: Tuesday at Blues Alley. Shows start at 8 and 10p.m.

With her keen jazz sensibilities and improvisational finesse, acclaimed Chilean singer-songwriter Claudia Acuña personalizes pop and jazz standards with great ease. On “En Este Moment,” however, Acuña turns her attention to mostly Spanish-language material: original songs as well as contributions by Chilean poet Victor Jara, Argentine tango master Astor Piazzolla and others. Read more »

“Oh, you have a dog! Oh. I want a dog so bad,” vocalist Claudia Acuña says after hearing the household canine on the other end of the phone, Rocky, barking at a passing pickup.

Learning that Rocky is a black Lab / Shepherd cross, she instantly snaps, “I hate you,” and dissolves into giggles. “Labradors are one of my favorites.”

Acuña’s heart sits close to the surface, and if it’s touched, her heart leaps up into her luscious alto—where it resides throughout her latest CD, En Este Momento (Marsalis Records). Read more »

As music director of Machito and his Afro-Cubans in the 1940s, the late Cuban saxophonist and bandleader Mario Bauzá was a key figure in the development of what came to be known as Latin jazz. Yet, he often railed against the term.

“I don’t know what they’re talking about when people talk about Latin jazz,” he would say impatiently. “Nobody is playing Latin jazz. What they are playing is Afro-Cuban jazz.”

Then, point made, he would allow exceptions. Read more »