November 26 Lineup for Riviera Maya Jazz Festival in Playa del Carmen, Mexico
Yellowjackets
Yellowjackets celebrate 30 years as one of the premiere jazz groups of our time with the release of “Timeline” on March 15. William Kennedy is back in the drum chair after a 10 year hiatus, and “Timeline” features a guest appearance by Yellowjackets alumni, Robben Ford. Yellowjackets first recorded in 1980 with Robben on guitar.
The energy and creativity sparked by the quartet’s interaction, honed over three decades now, results in one of Yellowjackets’ finest albums, and it sounds like that there is plenty of gas left in the tank.
Richard Bona
Ever since his solo debuts in 1999, Richard Bona has defended the idea of music that’s universal: generous and accessible to all.
Richard was playing the balafon by the time he was four, and then he taught himself to play the guitar. Later, in the capital of Douala, a jazz-club owner played him records by bassist Jaco Pastorius; Richard decided he’d teach himself to play the bass as well. In 1989 he went to Europe, living in Germany for a while before moving to France to complete his bass education. In 1995 Richard went to New York. For the next few months he visited the city’s famous jazz clubs and worked with Michael and Randy Brecker, Pat Metheny, Larry Coryell, Mike Stern, Steve Gadd, Joe Zawinul, even singer Harry Belafonte.
The musician found his audience immediately: his brio as a fluid instrumentalist made everything seem easy, and his slender singing-voice had real melody; coupled with these musical talents were his gifts as a natural showman, for Bona appeared to be born for the stage. Above all, his compositions naturally took in different sources: Africa, jazz, fusion… Bona was still highly sought-after as an instrumentalist, and he regularly received calls from some of the greatest musicians.
Click Here to visit Richard Bona’s website
Alex Otaola
In 1994 Alex Otaola began his musical career professionally when he joined SANTA SABINA, a popular Mexican rock band. Later in 98 he became part of other bands such as LA BARRANCA and in 2009 of SAN PASCUALITO REY, also in that year created an amazing duet with Iraida Noriega.
At that time he played music in the film “The Man with the Movie Camera” – Dziga Vertov, 1928 – in the Cineteca Nacional and was selected to play for the Latin-American premiere of the restored version of the classic “Metropolis” – Fritz Lang, 1929 – in the 2010 edition of the “Festival Internacional de Expresión en Corto.” Thanks to ‘FRACTALES’ he is the first Mexican guitarist whose music has been included on the CD-sampler of the magazine ‘Guitararra Total’.
Over his 15 year career he has performed in the main forums and festivals of Mexico and in major cities such as New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Toulouse, Berlin, Dublin,Madrid, Barcelona, Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and Hiroshima
To visit his website, click here