Search - Nachito Herrera :: Nachito Herrera & Puro Cubano Live at the Dakota

Hotter than the burning tip of a contraband Cuban cigar. Stronger than a straight shot of Havana rum. As exciting as a World Series game, with "El Duque" on the mound. And tastier than a big platter of black beans, rice, sweet plantains and ropa vieja -- that's shredded beef, folks. Welcome to the scintillating sounds of Nachito Herrera and his band, Puro Cubano! Explosive. Crowd-pleasing. Rhythmically intense. Romantic. Dynamic. Jaw-droppingly good. That's the glowing rap on the piano playing of Ignacio "Nachito" Herrera. One word suits Senor Herrera best of all -- virtuoso. It's apparent throughout "Live At The Dakota" that Nachito Herrera has no limits as a pianist. He can play what he wants and what he feels, exactly, with energy and power and directness and contagious charm. Herrera's a piledriver, a barnburner, a wizard. Nachito's ample classical music training shines through on every track. As do his powers of jazz improvisation, and his rich background in the music of his island homeland, Cuba. Cha-cha-cha, bolero, salsa, rumba, son, mambo, meringue, guaracha, plena, guajira -- name the beatt, and Herrera delivers it with mastery. The all-star band Cubanismo was Nachito's ticket off the island, his passport to the world's concert halls and outdoor festivals. In Cubanismo, he ably followed star pianist Alfredo Rodriguez, who went on to a solo career. From 1997-2000, Herrera doubled as an arranger and musical director for the Jesus Alemany-led band. He appears on the Cubanismo CDs, Reencarnacion and Mardi Gras Mambo: Cubanismo in New Orleans. Soon after leaving Cubanismo, Herrera wound up living and working in one of the U.S. metro areas that he'd visited with the band -- namely, the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Why Minnesota? "I liked it immediately because it seemed like one of the more calm, stable, safe big cities in the U.S.A." Herrera told a reporter from the Minneapolis Star-Tribune newspaper. "And I loved it that even if there are 30 inches of snow on the ground, people will still go out and see live music." Though the U.S. embargo with Cuba was still in full flower, Nachito managed to gain "artist of special merit" status, thanks to the backing of a nonprofit organization. Herrera was permitted to work in the Land of Lakes for up to three years, and he immediately got down to business, assembling the great group that you hear here -- Puro Cubano. A combo tailor-made to deliver heritage sounds, with incomparable fire. Puro Cubano is the natural culmination of Herrera's years spent in academia, from the Superior Institute of Art in Havana and the Cuban Naval Academy band, to the MacPhail Center for the Arts in Minneapolis, where Nachito teaches today. More to the musical point, Live At The Dakota is the end product of time logged with such fabled mentors as the ageless Ruben Gonzalez, the superstar Chucho Valdes, and with his own very skilled piano-playing padre, Ignacio Herrera, Sr. All the nonstop training, from Rachmaninoff to rumba, and all the global touring, getting his feet wet with the popular Tropicana Orquestra, then becoming a serious road warrior in Cubanismo, pays off grandly on Live At the Dakota. Every single track of this CD delivers fire and finesse, verve and variety. Wanna be overwhelmed? Then check out, "Rumba Africana," a tour-de-force of brilliant, elastic piano artistry, with more tempo and mood shifts than two Fellini flicks. Looking for pure entertainment? Join the happy chorus on "Cha-Cha-Cha 1-2." Or spend "Un Dia en la Habana" -- a rollicking, careening day in Havana. No day in Cuba's hub would be complete without some beisbol, right? Just ask Tony Oliva, another singularly talented Cuban who's made a happy home for himself in Minnesota. So it's fitting that the Puro Cubano all-star team launches into a few singalong bars of the hoary yet always satisfying, "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." Every single member of the Dakota Bar & Grill audience sings bette