Joe McCarthy & The Afro Bop Alliance
Being from the Hartford scene…there was a big Art Blakey influence goin…
Not many Latin bands are making it these days without a singer. If you live in an urban area, you may notice the plethora of channels on your car radio playing salsa, meringue and cha-cha… they all feature a heaping dose of vocalists. Vocals may be an important part of the tradition, though it’s the instrumentalists that appeal to this writer, and I’m happy to report that there are a few bands out there struggling to make it in an all-instrumental Latin vein. I recently caught up with a guy whose name and day job do not suggest in the slightest that he would be pursuing the leadership of a kick-ass Latin jazz group.
