Pedrito Martinez Group
Concert Report
A virtuoso is a musician with masterful control of their instrument and their playing, able to give a commanding and emotionally moving performance to the audience with relative ease. Pedrito Martinez encapsulated all of these ideas on December 17th at Subrosa in the Meatpacking district, leading his Afro-Cuban jazz group to give a rousing hour long performance. Using his mastery of percussion as well as an impressive singing voice to provide both melodies and harmonies with the other band members, Martinez fully displayed the heights a virtuoso can reach.
Upon entering Subrosa I was excited just by the intimacy of the venue. Subrosa is an extension of the Blue Note focusing on Cuban music and Latin groups, a club still in its introductory stages but with a promising future. The space featured room for about 100 people at most, but at 7pm on this Wednesday only had about 25 people seated in the audience. The event was 21 and over, and my friend and I were the youngest in the crowd, with the event drawing a wide ranging audience unified in their musical and cultural interest in the performance to come. Subrosa was lit with red bulbs and candled tables, conveying both an older elegance and the contemporary chic of the meatpacking district. Sitting at a table about ten feet from the stage I was very close to the music and musicians, and recognized them as they took the stage as having hung out with their friends in the audience before the show. This was a show for us in the audience, not just a regular paid concert event, and the intimacy of the venue as well as the band themselves provided this connection.
The Pedrito Martinez group themselves are an up and coming Afro-Cuban band, featuring Cuban members who were very happy with Obama’s recent announcement of opening relations with Cuba (they remarked “Obama is in the house” before the show). The group includes more members on their new Grammy nominated album than were present at the show, but the members present more than made up for their smaller numbers. Pedrito was featured on congas, stomp pad, African drums and singing, both in lead and harmonic parts. He was joined by a bassist, another percussionist playing cowbell and bongos, and a keyboardist on a Yamaha keyboard and Korg synthesizer. The whole group was obviously virtuosic, able to weave through prepared and improvised material and transitions with ease. It was especially impressive when one musician would start a phrase or introduction of a song, and the other players would seemingly know exactly when to come in with the head of the song despite the solo introduction being completely improvised and without much direct conversation or implications given by the soloist. The players were so in tune with each other and the direction of the music that they could hear what the audience couldn’t, and even myself being a musician with experience in Afro-Cuban music the rhythms and transitions they played were challenging and intimidating. The second percussionist was especially impressive, at times creating an entire rhythmic and melodic sound from only a cowbell, taking what is usually considered a simple or blasé instrument and using it with as much technique and variance as a classical cellist.
However, Pedrito Martinez was the obvious standout of the night. He energized and connected with the audience both in playing and conversation, at one point even leaving the stage to come dance with women in the crowd (displaying dance skills as impressive as his playing). His voice was soaring and strong, and especially impressive considering he was simultaneously playing complex polyrhythms on percussion while singing. His utilized his voice as both an extra percussive instrument as well as a leading melody, with the other three band members matching his harmonies to provide a driving chorus of voices. At one point towards the end of the show Pedrito was alone on stage with a set of African drums, about five all set up on one large stand for him to play. Starting slow and eventually gaining momentum and complexity, the true virtuosic nature of his playing was on powerful display as he mixed polyrhythms with his right hand on three separate drums while providing melodic notes and impressions on a wooden drum block with his left hand. Pedrito provided the sound of an entire band by himself, at such speeds that would confound a band of regular players each trying to accomplish only one of the voices he was providing.
More than anything, the music of the night was exciting. People in the audience got up and danced, some of them in their 70’s or even 80’s it seemed, and yet still moved by the music enough to dance in a crowd of at most two dozen. Lasting a bit over an hour, most of the songs of the concert induced head-bobbing and foot tapping, and even the slower songs less focused on dancing were extremely interesting and captivating. I was lucky enough to get into the show for free from a mailing list deal, but had I paid the regular twenty dollars for the show I would not have been disappointed in my purchase. It’s not often you get to see a masterful display of talent and musical prowess, and even less so that you get to be in such an intimate setting to receive it. Hopefully the Pedrito Martinez Group wins the Grammy for their album, and hopefully this means many more opportunities for me to see them. This is definitely a group and a leading musician in Pedrito everyone should watch out for.
Pedrito Martinez Group, Tu Tienes Mala Mana
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVKGsCQrAJ8
A virtuoso is a musician with masterful control of their instrument and their playing, able to give a commanding and emotionally moving performance to the audience with relative ease. Pedrito Martinez encapsulated all of these ideas on December 17th at Subrosa in the Meatpacking district, leading his Afro-Cuban jazz group to give a rousing hour long performance. Using his mastery of percussion as well as an impressive singing voice to provide both melodies and harmonies with the other band members, Martinez fully displayed the heights a virtuoso can reach.
Upon entering Subrosa I was excited just by the intimacy of the venue. Subrosa is an extension of the Blue Note focusing on Cuban music and Latin groups, a club still in its introductory stages but with a promising future. The space featured room for about 100 people at most, but at 7pm on this Wednesday only had about 25 people seated in the audience. The event was 21 and over, and my friend and I were the youngest in the crowd, with the event drawing a wide ranging audience unified in their musical and cultural interest in the performance to come. Subrosa was lit with red bulbs and candled tables, conveying both an older elegance and the contemporary chic of the meatpacking district. Sitting at a table about ten feet from the stage I was very close to the music and musicians, and recognized them as they took the stage as having hung out with their friends in the audience before the show. This was a show for us in the audience, not just a regular paid concert event, and the intimacy of the venue as well as the band themselves provided this connection.
The Pedrito Martinez group themselves are an up and coming Afro-Cuban band, featuring Cuban members who were very happy with Obama’s recent announcement of opening relations with Cuba (they remarked “Obama is in the house” before the show). The group includes more members on their new Grammy nominated album than were present at the show, but the members present more than made up for their smaller numbers. Pedrito was featured on congas, stomp pad, African drums and singing, both in lead and harmonic parts. He was joined by a bassist, another percussionist playing cowbell and bongos, and a keyboardist on a Yamaha keyboard and Korg synthesizer. The whole group was obviously virtuosic, able to weave through prepared and improvised material and transitions with ease. It was especially impressive when one musician would start a phrase or introduction of a song, and the other players would seemingly know exactly when to come in with the head of the song despite the solo introduction being completely improvised and without much direct conversation or implications given by the soloist. The players were so in tune with each other and the direction of the music that they could hear what the audience couldn’t, and even myself being a musician with experience in Afro-Cuban music the rhythms and transitions they played were challenging and intimidating. The second percussionist was especially impressive, at times creating an entire rhythmic and melodic sound from only a cowbell, taking what is usually considered a simple or blasé instrument and using it with as much technique and variance as a classical cellist.
However, Pedrito Martinez was the obvious standout of the night. He energized and connected with the audience both in playing and conversation, at one point even leaving the stage to come dance with women in the crowd (displaying dance skills as impressive as his playing). His voice was soaring and strong, and especially impressive considering he was simultaneously playing complex polyrhythms on percussion while singing. His utilized his voice as both an extra percussive instrument as well as a leading melody, with the other three band members matching his harmonies to provide a driving chorus of voices. At one point towards the end of the show Pedrito was alone on stage with a set of African drums, about five all set up on one large stand for him to play. Starting slow and eventually gaining momentum and complexity, the true virtuosic nature of his playing was on powerful display as he mixed polyrhythms with his right hand on three separate drums while providing melodic notes and impressions on a wooden drum block with his left hand. Pedrito provided the sound of an entire band by himself, at such speeds that would confound a band of regular players each trying to accomplish only one of the voices he was providing.
More than anything, the music of the night was exciting. People in the audience got up and danced, some of them in their 70’s or even 80’s it seemed, and yet still moved by the music enough to dance in a crowd of at most two dozen. Lasting a bit over an hour, most of the songs of the concert induced head-bobbing and foot tapping, and even the slower songs less focused on dancing were extremely interesting and captivating. I was lucky enough to get into the show for free from a mailing list deal, but had I paid the regular twenty dollars for the show I would not have been disappointed in my purchase. It’s not often you get to see a masterful display of talent and musical prowess, and even less so that you get to be in such an intimate setting to receive it. Hopefully the Pedrito Martinez Group wins the Grammy for their album, and hopefully this means many more opportunities for me to see them. This is definitely a group and a leading musician in Pedrito everyone should watch out for.
Pedrito Martinez Group, Tu Tienes Mala Mana
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVKGsCQrAJ8
