Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Wynton Marsalis & Rubén Blades - Una Noche Con Rubén Blades (2018) FLAC

Late in 2014, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis welcomed a very special guest to their Manhattan stage: nine-time GRAMMY winning singer, songwriter, actor, and activist Rubén Blades. For one very special night music-directed by the JLCO’s bassist and “emerging master in the Latin jazz idiom” (DownBeat) Carlos Henriquez the worlds of salsa and swing collided. Backed by one of the world’s leading big bands, Blades took the audience on a tour through his greatest hits. In their write-up of the show, the New York Times said “Mr. Henriquez’s arrangements delivered consistently… Radically beautiful.”

Now, Una Noche con Rubén Blades captures this historic concert in CD and digital formats. The album finds the Maestro singing some of his own beloved compositions, including “Pedro Navaja,” “Patria,” and “El Cantante,” as well as swinging through standards like “Too Close for Comfort” and “Begin the Beguine,” all while backed by the Downbeat Reader’s Poll Big Band of the Year (2013, ‘14. & ‘15). Pick up this kaleidoscopic, momentous collaboration between two of our most soulful musicians this October 19th.