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This Week's Latin Jazz News

 Latin jazz flutist Dave Valentin suffered a stroke in March 2012, and has been unable to work since then.  A benefit concert will take place tonight, Nov. 7, at the Tarrytown Music Hall in Tarrytown, N.Y.  The show will help raise funds to pay his medical expenses and basic living needs.

A student of the great Hubert Laws, Valentin tells the story of taking up flute in order to impress a girl. The girl didn’t stick around, but the flute became his instrument of choice.  Aside from being a great performer and recording artist,  he has taught Latin Jazz to inner city kids through an after-school program called Change Through Music.   He was a full-time professor teaching Latin and music for several years.

Guests scheduled to perform at the benefit tonight include pianist Bill O'Connell, vibraphonist Dave Samuels, saxophonist Paquito D'Rivera and Bobby Sanabria on drums and percussion.

Here's Dave Valentin in better times, with Eddie Palmieri:

http://youtu.be/G7Q8uAOgk0U

 

Orquesta Buena Vista Social Club, which has been touring in various configurations since 1997's Grammy winning album and film, announced their farewell tour this week.

Original members of the group still touring are vocalist Omara Portuondo, singer/guitarist Eliades Ochoa, trumpeter Guajiro Mirabal and laud virtuoso Barbarito Torres.

 The worldwide "Adios Tour" starts in the summer of 2014, wrapping up with a gala homecoming performance in Havana, Cuba in the fall of 2015.

http://youtu.be/UXwLBS3yUkA

 

Listen for Dave Valentin and the Buena Vista Social Club on today's Jazz Caliente, Thursdays at 2pm on KPLU's Mid Day Jazz!

Originally from Detroit, Robin Lloyd has been presenting jazz, blues and Latin jazz on public radio for nearly 40 years. She's a member of the Jazz Education Network and the Jazz Journalists Association.