With his dark blue velvet suit and carefully groomed white hair, Bobby Carcasses does not look like a rebel, but like a man who is happiest at the center of an old-fashioned cultural salon. On a sunny afternoon last week, he seemed right at home in CubaOcho, the plush Little Havana gallery and lounge, talking softly about the infinite dimensions of art.
But to generations of Cuban jazz musicians, Bobby Carcasses, 71, is a hero, the man who made their music possible. It was Carcasses who, in 1980, when jazz was officially frowned upon as music of the imperialist United States, launched the Jazz Plaza Festival, now the Havana Jazz Festival, the platform that enabled jazz to grow on the island.
“If it weren't for him we wouldn't have jazz in Cuba," says Ever Chavez, who is presenting Carcasses on Friday at Little Havana's Manuel Artime Theater with a group of his Havana protgs, now some of the hottest players on New York's Latin jazz scene.
“He was one of the most courageous musicians in Cuba," says
But to generations of Cuban jazz musicians, Bobby Carcasses, 71, is a hero, the man who made their music possible. It was Carcasses who, in 1980, when jazz was officially frowned upon as music of the imperialist United States, launched the Jazz Plaza Festival, now the Havana Jazz Festival, the platform that enabled jazz to grow on the island.
“If it weren't for him we wouldn't have jazz in Cuba," says Ever Chavez, who is presenting Carcasses on Friday at Little Havana's Manuel Artime Theater with a group of his Havana protgs, now some of the hottest players on New York's Latin jazz scene.
“He was one of the most courageous musicians in Cuba," says
Dafnis Prieto
drumsb.1974
Buy Now
