SunFest '97: Featured Artists

Bio: Albita finds inspiration for her songs in everything and anything, but a major influence was moving to Miami from Cuba in 1993. "When you begin a new life, you start accumulating information and new influences. You don't know exactly where it will lead you and what it will lead you to produce," Albita explains. She tries to mix various types of Cuban music and has created a unique sound in the process. She notes that in addition to the music, Cubans have a unique way of speaking, using specific vocabulary and phrases. "Cuban is different from Spanish. This is part of our unique identity and allows us to express our view in our own sensibility and words."

Bio: Daemyon, a 26-year-old violinist from Detroit, draws upon masters like Stuff Smith, Jean-Luc Ponty and Stephan Grappelli to forge a unique sound all at once tender and percussive, complementing his masterful melodic performances with exciting landscapes from the hip-hop, funk, world beat and jazz traditions. "Though I am classically trained, my intent is to take contemporary violin into a Renaissance phase, a re-birth period where I incorporate a little of everything, sort of like a pot of gumbo where everything smells good mixed in," says Daemyon, who has played professionally since age 13.

Bio: New York City now has a soundtrack. A perfect soundscape for the landscape. Music for the concrete jungle. It is a sonic monster called the Groove Collective, the melding of ten unique talents spiraling in and out of incomparable urban movements. It is music that instantly conjures up images from the setting sun against the Chrysler Building to the basketball courts over the West 4th Street subway station.

Bio: "My music is firmly based in the R&B tradition," confirms James, who's more likely to refer to himself as an instrumental R&B player than a contemporary jazz artist. "I like to think I'm making music for people like me," he says, citing among his own musical influences such artists as Stevie Wonder, Earth, Wind And Fire, Sly Stone and Bill Withers.

Bio: With a few special guests, new songs, old ones and an album title and cover art honoring one of their recently departed heroes, Little Feat play Live From Neon Park on their latest album. For many rock fans who cherish the band's first live album, 1978's Waiting For Columbus, as one of rock's all time classics, Live From Neon Park is the long-awaited follow-up. In keeping with the band's grass-roots following, the album title was, in fact, suggested by one of their admirers via a fan-created Web site.

Bio: Blending rhythms from around the world, Roberto Perera's musical vision reflects Latin, Pop, Jazz, Afro-Cuban, New Age and South American influences. This kaleidoscope of original sounds has brought Perera the recognition of being a pioneer in sophisticated contemporary music. On Harp and Soul, his latest album, the native of Uruguay uses the unmodified folk harp, taking disparate elements and forging them into strikingly individual works of singular beauty. His creations consist largely of change: changing and combining musical types, rapidly shifting rhythms and many diverse sounds working together and alone in a finely tuned way.

Bio: Pianist Danilo Perez has established himself as a leader among the new generation of jazz musicians. On his new release, PanaMonk, he offers a compelling rhythmic homage to the music of Thelonious Monk - and a fine showcase for his own intelligent, exciting and authentic sound. Buoyant as well as profound, PanaMonk is infused with the immediacy, driving intensity and tender moments of a live performance (You'll even hear Danilo singing to himself on most tracks!). Recorded in only one and a half days, PanaMonk swings with percolating energy.

Bio: Steve Reid, world renowned percussionist and producer, is a household name to most music enthusiasts. He's played on more than 500 recordings, produced several gold records and was named Jazziz Magazine Percussionist of the Year in 1993. He's toured the world extensively as a member of Supertramp and as a current member of the Rippingtons, one of the most successful contemporary jazz groups of the decade. Bamboo Forest is an exciting package of musicians that has been thrilling Jazz and New Age audiences at every performance. The many dedicated fans that have followed Reid's career will not be disappointed.

Bio: All the world knows the special magic of Carlos Santana as expressed through his music and his guitar playing, which is among the most distinctive and recognizable in all music. His is a tone of vibrant energy that bathes the human soul and awakens the unconscious spirit. The spirit of truth, the spirit of Brotherhood. In every performance, Carlos shares with his audience a personal communication that crosses all boundaries and differences, and makes all people, one people, one family. And family is what Carlos Santana is all about. With more than 30 million albums sold and performances before an estimated 13 million people, Santana and his music continue to be an everlasting celebration of the human spirit and brotherhood