Afro-Bop Alliance

The Caribbean Jazz Project, the Latin jazz collective of vibraphonist David Samuels, steel pan drummer Andy Narell, and saxophonist Paquito d'Rivera, crafter their first recordings on Heads Up International in the 1990s and immediately captured the imagination of audiences and critics worldwide. In the years since, the Grammy-Award winning ensemble CJP led by Samuels has recorded subsequent albums on the Concord label, and a few of the faces in the group's roster have changed. Nevertheless, Samuels and company continue to explore and test the commonly accepted boundaries of Latin jazz - and jazz in general - via innovative compositions and exciting arrangements. AFRO BOP ALLIANCE recast nin CJP signature pieces - some by Samuels and others by Coltrane, Monk and other jazz luminaries - in a fresh new ligth via full-bodied arrangements by the Maryland-based Afro Bop Alliance, one of the most exciting new bands on the Latin jazz scene today. Since their inception less than five years ago, the brassy and high-energy Afro Bop Alliance has electrified audiences at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Smithsonian Jazz Cafe, the W.C. Handy Jazz Festival and many other music and cultural festivals. Join the alliance. The Caribbean Jazz Project is on the move, and the direction is always forward.