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Riviera Maya Jazz Festival 2020

Friday 27

AGUAMALA

A project that started in Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo by the composer, producer and drummer Fernando Toussaint and its band members Enrique Pat, Bernardo Ron and Luis Ernesto López in 2004. Aguamala was born as a composition and improvisation workshop that has had as a result seven music productions until now, half of them recorded in live performances. This jazz band with rock and funk fusion has been considered by the specialized jazz media as one of the most important projects of the current Mexican Jazz scene.

Fernando Toussaint, founder and drummer of the band died in 2017 and in 2020 Bernardo Ron, Enrique Pat and Luis Ernesto López got back together and a new member joined the group: Rodrigo López, a drummer that was coached and trained by Fernando itself, since Rodrigo was 4 years old. Now that he is 19 years old, he joins this “Playense” band to get Aguamala back on the scene.

Discography: Aguamala en vivo (2006), UTS (2007), 13:20 (2009), 13:20 en vivo (2010), Mutuo (2012), Trix (2015), Playa del Carmen, tracks en vivo (dropped in 2020)

Artists that have collaborated in Aguamala´s productions: Eugenio Toussaint, Cecilia Toussaint, Enrique Toussaint, Diego Maroto, Marc Anderson, Eugenia León, Iraida Noriega, Natalia Laforcade, Micca Mont, Arturo Labastida, Armando Montiel, DJ Saeg, Sabo Romo.

Aguamala´s collaborations in other artists´ productions: Aos nossos filhos (Eugenia León and Ivan Lins), La carta (Eugenia León, Malena Durán, Moyenei Valdés, Cecilia García Amaro, Hebe Rosell), Derecho de nacimiento (Eugenia León and Guillermo Briseño)

STEFFIE BELTT

Steffie Beltt returns to the Riviera Maya Jazz Festival after three years, with her new album “En tu corazón”, which expose her deepest emotions with passion and simplicity.

Her album includes Blues and Funk as her music base, introducing Rock and Pop elements. The result has been an interesting and modern music style that leads to a roller coaster of emotions.

This album also includes new musical aspects like Mexican popular music and African-American beats, taking pride in her Mexican-Cuban roots.

XAMÁN

Xamán is born from the racial and cultural mixing that characterizes the Mexican people. Its music is the expression of the several music genres that have shaped throughout history, the musical identity of Mexico.

They are an ethno jazz fusion group that mixes Afro-Caribbean rhythms with Mesoamerican instruments.

“It is an innovative and experimental band, always searching for new material, pushing back the boundaries as any good jazz band should” - MIAMI HERALD, May 1998.

Its album “MAJAZZ” was in the fifth place of the Tower Records top jazz list (1998).

“Xamán-Ek is a conceptual disc, steeped in sonorities and places that takes us back to the ceremonial centers of the pre-Hispanic world” - LA CRÓNICA DE HOY, October 2008.

"Without a doubt, the brain and backbone of Xamán has been the experienced musician Emmanuel Mora who, in his extensive career within Jazz in Mexico, has achieved three albums as a soloist, ventured into South American folklore with the album Andean Nights, has recorded alongside keyboardist and percussionist Cesar Regino, as well as the Afro-American albums of Cuarteto Jazz Son 4, "Migracianes" by Mexican composer and bassist Alejandro Mora, among other productions" - La Crónica de Hoy, 2008

Emmanuel Mora - Guitar and Voice (Spoken)
Alejandro Mora - Bass
Rodrigo Mora - Keyboards
Rigo Pech - Drums

Saturday 28

ELITE BAND

Elite Band is focused on the execution of different music genres such as Funk, Soul and R&B with a jazzy flavor. They mostly perform original songs, but also some other songs of renowned composers of these musical genres.

Elite Band is made up of four talented musicians, ensuring the quality of the show it offers. The repertoire is designed for viewers to live an unforgettable experience.

The members of the band are:
Bass: Hiram Gómez
Keyboards: Danyel Fuentes
Drums: Arturo Solís
Guitar: Adán García
Piano: Julio Baró

DIEGO MAROTO CUARTETO

Diego Maroto surprises us once again with the lucidity of his arguments on the tenor sax (and eventually the soprano). Each one of his phrases demonstrates that innate and superb capacity to draw symbols from bop and all its stereos; although the most amazing thing is how he manages to build that distinctly contemporary speech without abandoning for a single moment the foundations of blues, the sway of swing and the solid, intense consistency of hard bop.

Maroto's breath is as clean as it is complex, as neat as it is demanding. Thus, the members of this quartet are an intrinsic part of the third generation of jazz musicians in Mexico, still tracing the routes of the future. Antonio Malacara, CDMX, October 2, 2020

The members of this quartet are:
Pancho Lelo de Larrea: Guitar
Luri Molina: Bass
Gabriel Puentes: Drums
Diego Maroto: Sax

Sunday 29

MEMO RUIZ BOLERO FLAMENCO & JAZZ

Memo Ruiz shows the fusion of the Bolero and the Flamenco, a mix that until a few years ago seemed impossible.

Boleros of a lifetime at the rhythm of Flamenco.

Members:

Guitar and Singer: Memo Ruiz.
Flamenco guitar: Fernando Soto.
Bass: Armando Becerril.
Percussion: Alejandro Barajas.
Trumpet: Rafael Gesto Alonso.
Ballerina: Alejandra Águila.

NATALIA MARROKIN

A young 26 year old woman born in Mexico City, singer and songwriter who has a privileged voice, which has been influenced mainly by African-American music, in genres like R&B, Soul, Pop and Blues. So it results in a bilingual endowment of songs, of which it makes up her first long-term album named INDIGO.

Recorded in the legendary Audio Dallas studio in Dallas Texas, with a team of international collaborators such as: Vinnie Colaiuta, Michael League (Snarky Puppy), Bobby Sparks (Marcus Miller, Lalah Hattaway, Tower of Power, Snarky Puppy) Julie Bonk and Guillermo Briseño, a key piece of the Mexican Blues scene.

In 2019, Natalia was part of the Riviera Maya Jazz Festival´s lineup, alternating with artists such as: Chucho Valdés, UB-40, Trombone Shorty, The New York Voices, PBUG, Eliane Elias, among others.

PEPE HERNÁNDEZ & PACO ROSAS QUINTET

After years of trying, two historic Mexican musicians converge on the road. They both are legendary musicians with a brilliant career as solo artists.

A mix between Jazz Fusion, Progressive Rock, Funk and Blues.

Accompanied by:

Victor Loyo - Drums
Pepe Moran - Keyboards
Cristian Mendoza - Sax and soprano