7 Steps to Havana-Jazz at 5

Having members from North America and Brazil, the Caribbean and Africa, Seven Steps To Havana possesses a sound that truly brings the world into the music. Lovely boleros, raucous rumbas, swinging sambas, and haunting horn trios, this band soars far and wide across the musical spectrum. They were firing on all cylinders as the Jazz at five series heading indoors to the Overture Center’s lobby atrium. Viviana Pintado (pianist/vocalist)- from Cuba, 3-time Latin Grammy nominee was absolutely brilliant in her playing and singing, exciting the crowd as she took familiar sounding arrangements and changed them to fit the “no stone unturned” approach to this Latin Jazz outfit. The other percussion setting the rhythms were created by Eliezer Freitas-Santos & Rey Rivera, and the bass playing of Yohannes Tona has blasts of Victor Wooten sounding explosions to the wooing jazz back bass beat that mirror the music’s pulse. The horns of Mark Miller (trombone), Bill Simenson (trumpet) & Douglas Little (saxophone/flute/leader) rounded out one frenzied fest of Latin sounds that spread smiles on the faces of those who let the music take them over.

Check out some of the photos from the event here.