Spanish Harlem Orchestra — North Sea Jazz Festival, 2003

A full concert filmed on Sunday 13 July 2003 at the Congress Centre in The Hague, as part of the North Sea Jazz Festival, this capture presents the Spanish Harlem Orchestra, the great New York salsa big band led by pianist and arranger Oscar Hernández. Born out of El Barrio, Harlem’s Hispanic quarter — the native soil of salsa, Latin soul and boogaloo — this fifteen-piece ensemble has been hailed as “the New York answer to the Buena Vista Social Club.” Around singers Jimmy Sabater and Ray Sepúlveda, the flamboyant horn section, montuno pianos and Afro-Cuban percussion (bongos, congas, timbales) unfold a salsa dura at once modern and faithful to tradition. With the album Un Gran Día en El Barrio, the group pays homage to the musical history of its neighbourhood. An essential live capture for grasping the full rhythmic power and elegance of great New York salsa, filmed in top conditions at the turn of the 2000s.