"A friend of his ex-wife, videographer Jeffrey Braverman, was putting him up, and on Sosa's first night in San Francisco he took the pianist to the Mission District jazzspot Bruno's, where Lavay Smith and Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers were playing. Braverman let them know there was a Cuban pianist at the bar and they invited him to sit in."
"Though he's lived in Europe since 1999, the seven-time Grammy Award nominee put down deep roots during his five-year stint here, spent mostly in Oakland. Now living in southern Italy, Sosa's played dozens of Bay Area gigs over the quarter century since he left, but has never before had the opportunity to present such a wide spectrum of his music."
"I'm so grateful to SFJAZZ for making me a resident artistic director. In an interview that covered some three decades of Sosa's music and career, he recalled how quickly he found his footing in the Bay Area."
Omar Sosa, a Cuban pianist trained as a percussionist, arrived in the Bay Area in 1995 with minimal financial resources and no musical connections. Unknown in the U.S., he quickly established himself after being invited to perform at Bruno's jazz club on his first night in San Francisco. He spent five years primarily in Oakland before relocating to Europe in 1999, where he has maintained a successful career as a seven-time Grammy Award nominee. Now based in southern Italy, Sosa returns to the Bay Area for his debut residency as artistic director at SFJAZZ Center from March 5-8, featuring different musical projects each night and marking a significant milestone in his career.
#cuban-jazz-pianist #sfjazz-residency #bay-area-music-history #grammy-nominated-artist #jazz-performance
Read at www.mercurynews.com
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