How did a South Korean singer with a fantastic voice end up on a Rochester, New York, stage singing Tom Waits’ “Jockey Full of Bourbon” with a punk-metal vibe and earn a standing ovation and an encore? That might have been the question on your mind if you had just arrived at the Xerox Rochester […]
Manuel Valera
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Featured Artist: Manuel Valera
Manuel Valera is a tough man to get a hold of. When I finally caught up with him by phone, he had just returned to his home in New York City on a red-eye flight from the West Coast. But he didn’t have a lot of time: he was getting ready to leave later that […]
Posted inMusic
CD REVIEW: Manuel Valera “New Cuban Express”
There is a particularly transcendent moment at the beginning of “Upward,” the third track on Manuel Valera’s excellent new album. An urgent Latin beat is established when suddenly a swirl of notes come spiraling up out of nowhere with a wondrous sound, as if to say: Fasten your seat belts, this album is now taking […]
