Negro's Musings ....

Drum roll.... rrllrrllrrllrrllrrllrrllrrllrrllrrllrrllrrllrrllrrllrrllrrllrrllrrllrrllrrllrrllrrllrrllrrllrrllrrll

Grammy Party! We found out on the stage at The Regatta Bar in Boston that we were Grammy winners! What a surprise (and what a shame that we were not at the Grammy Party...) But anyway, it was lovely, Boston.

Recording a few concerts in Japan with Chie Ayado took me almost half the month, and it was beautiful to come back home to play The Blue Note in New York with Michel (Camilo) for a week.

And now the good stuff... My precious dream is coming to life! Italuba (the band which I recorded my 1st solo record) was going on tour for the very first time - live! What great music, what a great tour! But guys, this band became an ambulatory hospital! Trumpet & piano player (Ivan Bridon) had a very high fever for almost more than a week... the bass player (Daniel Martinez) broke his head! (Really! He split it wide open while taking a shower.)

Now get ready for the best advice I can give for any drummer (or to any non-drummer... or to everybody!) Don't ever go out with your head wet during the winter. Please dry your hair before you go out! I believe this was a message from beyond. The first concert of Italuba was 3 days in a row at the club that has become the mecca of Latin Jazz in Madrid. The club is called Calle 54... the name of the movie that I had the opportunity to appear not only with Michel Camillo, but also with the legend of big band arranging, Chico O'Farrell (which sadly is no longer with us).

I wanted to say so many things to the audience of this concert at Calle 54, but I was stricken with, believe it or not, a condition called Bells Palsy (seems that bells are following me for life!), which was the most horrific thing I'd had happen to me. I had half of my face paralyzed for almost 3 weeks. It was beautiful to have a family of people around me asking me to go home and cure myself... but I couldn't leave the audiences waiting. Everybody was so excited about the tour! This newsletter can be endless if I thanked each and every one, so we all know who we are... it was great!

And today... Italuba is such a beautiful reality! Many many thanks.

We say goodbye to Italuba in Barcelona with 2 amazing nights at The Jazz Room (La Cova Del Drac) and I flew back to New York to rehearse a couple days with El Negro & Robby... and depart for a week at The Blue Note in Tokyo. It was amazing! We had Dave Valentin as a guest and the band had such a great time. Richie Flores on percussion, Bobby Franceschini on saxophone, and my brother Robby Ameen... what a week!

But the Caribbean was waiting for me... thank you, God! I went to Puerto Rico to play a concert with Michel Camilo at the Theater of The Fine Arts. What an audience! And - here's the best - a few days on the beach never hurt! So it was time for me to disconnect cellular phones (which I have never had!) and relax on Culevrita in PR and Majo in St John (which are beaches that you can only get to by boat!) What a dream!

So I was ready once again to jump in the plane... and I went to celebrate my birthday in Ireland with the BBC Big Band Orchestra with my brother Giovanni Hidalgo, also a guest of the band. Certainly my birthdays have become more and more interesting! I remember one in New Orleans with the Neville Brothers... and this year in Londonderry Island with the BBC...

And to complete my tour of the Blue Notes, I went with Michel Camilo to their newest one in Milan. It was very beautiful. Italy becomes home more and more... Beautiful!

So, fully recovered, I'm home for a couple of days, practicing to play in a clinic on Saturday...

And my Blue Note tour begins again!

Negro

ps. I have heard that our Elvin (Jones) is not doing well. Right now, I know that all our prayers and best wishes are with him. Get Well... we love you

Welcome to the
Feb '04 Monthly Email Newsletter

Negro's Musings ....

Hi everybody!

At the beginning of October, I went to my annual clinic affair to the northwest. Great crowds in Mosco, Portland & Tacoma... but this time I had the pleasure to visit for the firt time Alaska! Great!

Then I rehearsed with a young, very promising Cuban pianist, Manuel Vallera, for his recording... It was as a trio that included John Patitucci on bass.

On October 21st, I flew to San Juan Puerto Rico to perform a "clinic" with Marc Quinones for Pearl at Villa Music. It turned into a double clinic / concert event! 1000 people came down which was twice as many as the room could hold! So we played for 500, while another 500 waited outside... and then we played for the next 500. The biggest satisfaction was to jam both of the sets was Dyron & his friends (at least 3 or 4 kids under 10 years old... and burning!! PR... you are the best!)

Beginning of November, I flew to Japan to play first with Kazumi Watanabe Trio... then with Masahiko Satoh Trio... next with Tetsuro Kawashimo Band... and then with Chie Ayado - who I had the pleasure to accompany for a Japanese Tour. In the middle of Chie's tour, we had a gig at Shinjuku Pit Inn with John Beasley Trio on a double bill with El Negro & Robby Band (that this time was just a quintet).

I came back home on December 3rd and then on the 8th flew to Europe (Torino, Italy) to rehearse for 2 days and go for the first 2 concerts of my dream band... Italuba. We had 2 great concerts... first in Lille, France and then at La Sosta (THE jazz club of Reggio, Calabria, Italy).

From there I went to Holland to get together for a couple of days with John Vandameulen who is one of the designers for Pearl Percussion... and an old friend from Afro Percussion days and who is now one of the principle designers for Pearl Percussion working on the design of the Clabells that are going to be my signature series of bells. Wail til you hear the sound and see the design!

While in Holdand, I recorded 5 tunes for Martin Ver Donk's new record. Martin is the top Dutch percussion player. It was crazy! It took me 2 hours to set the drums... and I recorded the 5 tunes in 1 hour and 20 minutes!!

Once again, as I did 10 years ago, I spent Christmas in Rome, Italy... and from there I went to Orvieto, Italy for the winter version of Umbria Jazz Festival with El Negro & Robby. Terence Blanchard's drumer couldn't make it so I ended up playing with both bands at the festival. What a way to end the year playing!

Back home again on January 3rd... chill for a few days... played Birdland in New York City with Christian McBride Band... chilled for a few days again... and I just played IAJE with Michel Camillo (with whom I am nominated for a Grammy for Best Latin Jazz record).

I'm just packing my bags now to fly to Puerto Rico to play with Humberto Ramirez as part of his tribute to the music of Miles Davis. From Puerto Rico, I'm gonna fly to Toronto to do Ilario Duran's record. (Ilario is the incredible piano player on my Live At The Modern Drummer Fest 2000 video). From Toronto, I'm going straight to Boston to play 3 nights with Michel Camillo again at the Regatta Bar. The Grammy's are on the 8th... so the next newsletter will be the After-Grammy-Party.

See you then!
Negro

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Be sure to check out the DrumsOnTheWeb.com VIP websites...

www.WalfredoReyesJr.com Wally's Learning Center, new photos, updated itinerary and more!

www.GreggGerson.com updated itinerary, photo gallery, and more!

www.ElNegro.com all the info on my new book "Conversations In Clave", my video "Live At The Modern Drummer Festival 2000", and the my cds - with Giovanni Hidalgo "Traveling Through Time " & with Robby Ameen "El Negro and Robby at the Third World War"

www.TomTeasley.com updated itinerary, current news, and more! New cd coming very soon!

www.FunkyDrummer.com Jim Payne's site... NYC teaching studio open! music downloads, interviews, books for sale and more! (new Tito Puente book!) New cd coming very soon!

www.LeonMobley.com Photo gallery, itinerary, and more!

www.FreeAssociationRecords.com Dave Abbruzzese's site!

www.JohnJRRobinson.com John JR Robinson's site with photos, sound clips and more! Be sure to sign his guest book!

www.Beats4You.com NEW! site with JFly!

www.MichaelFoxDrums.com drummer with Floyd Lee & MF2... itinerary, photos & more!

www.MarkEpstein.com ok, he's a bass player... but it's a great site!

www.DianeLotny.com soulful... an amazing singer... ya gotta check her out!

Volume 8 Issue 2 February 2004
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