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About “Sounds of the African Diaspora”

 

A musical journey through African rhythms played in the Americas and the Caribbean such as blues, jazz, swing, bebop, hard bop, calypso, mento, soca, plena, bomba, reggae, ska, rocksteady, son and Brazilian music. 

 

Bio:

 

Marel Hidalgo is a sixteen-year old guitarist and bandleader from Bradley Beach, New Jersey. He began playing guitar at the age of four and debuted in pubic with a solo show just a few months later. By the age of six he formed his first band, performing for years a variety of musical genres, including blues, reggae, progressive rock, Latin, funk, country, bluegrass and fusion very successfully at a local and national level.

 

After ten year of performing said genres, Marel began playing solo jazz guitar and shortly after he lead his first straight-ahead jazz trio. His playing quickly caught the attention of the jazz scene in the area and in the last year alone Marel has been highly active playing in jazz clubs, venues and festivals in the East Coast as well as overseas, such as the Exit Zero Jazz Festival, Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Count Basie’s Vogel Theater and the Teatro Nacional de Costa Rica as well as working alongside many talented and renowned musicians. 

 

His playing ranges from Straight-Ahead Jazz to Jamaican and Afro-Caribbean Jazz. Currently he is leading different formations (trio, organ trio, quartet) and presenting several shows including “Sounds of the African Diaspora”, “The Jamaican Jazz Songbook” and “ The Music of Horace Silver”.