Crossroads from Cuba to New York: Elio Villafranca & The Jass Syncopators @ Aaron Davis Hall

On April 26th, Steinway Artist and Grammy-nominated Cuban jazz pianist and composer Elio Villafranca returns to the Aaron Davis Hall, City College, with his group The Jass Syncopators, featuring singer Brianna Thomas to explore the connection between spiritual and musical crossroads in Cuba and New York. This concert, Crossroads from Cuba to New York, explores the rich diaspora of several Afro-Cuban musical forms and their intersection with jazz.

In Cuba, religions are very intertwined with the cultural fabric. Santeria, Arará, Abakuá, Congo, Tumba Francesa, Gangá, albeit different, have two things in common— the veneration of their deities and how they see the Crossroads as a place of great significance. In Elio’s case, the spiritual and musical crossroads of his experience growing up in Cuba, inside the Congolese tradition of Tambor Yuka, and living the experience of jazz in New York influenced his music the most.