~by Dena Burroughs

The Latin Jazz Festival at The Greek Theatre 2009 - May 15, 2009

   A good size crowd showed up to the second L.A. Latin Jazz Festival at The Greek Theatre.  The evening began with trumpeter and two time Grammy nominee Charlie Sepulveda and his group The Turnaround, which included saxophonist Norberto Ortiz.  They played classic Latin songs like Tito Puente's "Tus Ojos" as well as Latinized renditions of other genres.  Of his version of one of Stevie Wonder's songs, Sepulveda said:  "If Stevie would have been from Puerto Rico, he would have played it like this." The group's repertoire included a song from their new CD, set to be released next month, called Sepulveda Blvd. Master conguero Giovanni Hidalgo, who has a history of performing with Sepulveda, showed up wearing a white beanie to pound on the set of five congas along to The Turnarounds. 

   Dave Samuels and The Caribbean Jazz Project followed with special guest Paquito D'Rivera.  Included in the group was Roberto Quintero, who showed the audience how much can be accomplished with a set of maracas.  A bit of Hollywood shone with the band as actor Andy Garcia played the bongos.

   The last group performing was Jose Rizo's Jazz on the Latin Side All-Stars.  The great guys that make up this band, which include Joe Rotondi, Francisco Torres, Luis Eric Gonzalez, Joey De Leon, Eric Jorgensen, Justo Almario, Mark Sessions, Scott Martin, Danilo Lozano, and more, were joined by special guests Kenny Burrell and Hubert Laws, who were introduced as friends of the great John  Coltrane.  Adonis Puentes joined the All-Stars for this second year at The Greek to perform vocals.

A video taken from rather far away