Cuban composer and pianist Omar Sosa is one of the most versatile jazz artists on the scene today. He fuses a wide range of jazz, world music, and electronic elements with his native Afro-Cuban roots to create a fresh and original urban sound – all with a Latin jazz heart. Omar Sosa’s musical trajectory has taken him from Camagüey and Havana to touring in Angola, the Congo, Ethiopia, and Nicaragua in the 1980s; to a sojourn in the African-descent communities of Ecuador in the early 1990s; to an extended presence on the San Francisco Bay Area Latin jazz scene; to his current engagement with artists from France, Cuba, Brazil, and several North, West, and East African nations.

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Quarteto Americanos is Omar Sosa’s first U.S.-based jazz ensemble since the 1990s!  Featuring drummer Josh Jones, bassist Ernesto Mazar Kindelán, and saxophone / clarinet / flute player Sheldon Brown, the group came together in February 2021 when Omar was in the Bay Area for several live streams.  Connecting with Josh and Sheldon was a gratifying reunion for Omar, as he played extensively with them during his early days in San Francisco and Oakland in the late 1990s.  Josh Jones’ Trio at the time, including Omar and bassist Geoff Brennan, played frequently at Bay Area clubs.  Josh remains one of Omar’s favorite drummers - a versatile musician and educator equally at home in Latin, jazz, hip-hop, and fusion styles.  Sheldon Brown was a member of Omar’s first Septet ensemble in the Bay Area, performing in San Francisco and Oakland and around the world in support of Omar’s earliest recording projects, ‘Free Roots’, ‘Spirit of the Roots’, and ‘Bembón’, also known as the Roots Trilogy.  Sheldon is a talented composer, arranger and producer whose first recording, ‘Shifting Currents‘, caught Omar’s ear when he first moved to San Francisco in 1995.  Ernesto Mazar Kindelán is a dynamic Cuban musician who came to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2014 following a ten-year stint with Charanga Habanera, the celebrated Cuban timba band from Havana.

Omar’s Quarteto Americanos plays a number of arrangements of Omar’s signature compositions from his early career, including ‘My Three Notes’, ‘Angustia’, and ‘Toridanzón’, as well as new songs written by Omar in Barcelona during the lockdown in 2020.  Like Omar’s oeuvre, Quarteto Americanos’ repertoire is eclectic and energizing.  Its improvisational approach seamlessly fuses elements of jazz, Latin, hip-hop, and electronica into an exciting, passionate, contemporary sound.

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“As dazzling a pianist and idea-maker as there is in current Latin jazz and beyond, Omar Sosa is an immense talent, and never ceases to amaze.  Making his debut at Dizzy’s with his Quarteto Americanos in September 2023.”

                                                                -Michael Nastos, Hot House Jazz Magazine

 

“Omar Sosa Quarteto Americanos played a fantastic show at Dizzy’s – full house, and full body-mind-soul jazz!  Omar came in with a Lucumi prayer and dance and song and went flying after that!”

                                                                -Professor Henry Drewal, University of Wisconsin

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