Drummer Joe McCarthy and his New York Afro Bop Alliance Big Band new recording “Upwards”
“Joe McCarthy’s ascent as one of today’s strongest practitioners of Nuyorican Afro-Latin jazz continues with the irrepressible Upwards. –DownBeat Magazine
“On his second ZOHO release, drummer Joe McCarthy leads his impressive, NY based large ensemble through two vintage jazz numbers and six colorful pieces written by current and past band members. While there are many big bands on the scene, there none quite like this. That the band can move quickly from angular, intervallic runs to lush, pensive moments is a testament to the virtuosity of its performers and the artistic suppleness of its leader.” – Kabir Sehgal
“Congratulations to Joe and his band mates for creatively pushing Latin big band jazz forward in exciting new directions!” –Rich DeRosa
BASIC Training is an all-inclusive system designed to develop and maintain the core essentials of the drum set. BASIC Training inspires drummers to focus on the most important thing, regardless of level or genre: the music.
“BASIC Training meets you where you are as a musician, to get you closer to where you want to be musically and physically by refining the tools that will allow you to find your voice on this wonderfully complex instrument!”
Joe McCarthy
Play-Along Series featuring The New York Afro Bop Alliance Big Band
"This play-along is ‘required viewing’ for anyone interested in learning how to apply the Afro-Cuban style to the drum set."
Dave Samuels, Multi-Latin Grammy® and Grammy® Award Winning Vibraphonist
"McCarthy’s astonishing independence and disciplined groove focus are a thrill to behold.”Modern Drummer Magazine
"There’s a grand precedent for Afro-Cuban big band jazz. If the genre had a Hall of Fame, it would be stocked with vivacious, exuberant figures: Machito’s Afro-Cubans, Dizzy Gillespie’s Big Band, Tito Puente. As Afro-Cuban big bands of today aim to extend this genre’s great legacy, their success depends largely on how these ensembles define themselves against existing tropes. The Afro-Bop Alliance Big Band, captained by drummer Joe McCarthy, occupies a singular spot in the timeline of Afro-Cuban ensembles, at once a torchbearer of the genre’s storied history and also one of its fiercest innovators."DownBeat Magazine
"However, this album belongs to Mr McCarthy. The drummer and leader treats every work with painstaking care and inspires his musicians to interiorise the narratives and emotions of each work and give of themselves with metaphoric ingenuity. Moreover his approach to percussion [always ably aided and abetted by the wonderful Samuel Torres and the partnership is on exquisite display on “Caravan”] is wonderfully modernist and he gives melodies and harmonies a [rhythmic] percussive attack that is thunderously vivid and compelling. His playing is beautiful throughout. It’s no wonder that this is why, with its eight gleaming gems of music, Upwards ends up sounding as the best album that Mr McCarthy and The Afro Bop Alliance have recorded so far."Raul Da Gama, Latin Jazz Network
Joe Proudly Endorses
