Latin Jazz group ¡RITMOCANO! presents a night of Electric music in honor of their newly released CD, Iowa Friends, Cuban Music.
¡RITMOCANO! is a dynamic Latin jazz group led by percussionist James Dreier (founding member of Orquesta Alto Maiz) and featuring some of the best jazz musicians in the Midwest.
¡RITMOCANO! plays Latin jazz from the Americas and the Caribbean to (as Latin music expert Bobby Sanabria puts it) “…excite the human organism to its maximum potential!” The group released their first CD, Familia, A Latin Jazz Journey on the Real Town Records label in April of 2014 to enthusiastic response. The group released their second album Iowa Friends, Cuban Music in November of 2019.
Besides playing in numerous clubs and concerts, ¡RITMOCANO! has performed on the Main Stage of the Iowa City Jazz Festival, played for a live radio broadcast (KCCK 88.3) at the Opus Concert Café in Cedar Rapids and were featured artists at the Iowa Band Masters Association Convention and the Des Moines Jazz Festival in Des Moines.
For Dreier, ¡RITMOCANO! is the realization of a dream to lead a unique, creative and entertaining Latin jazz group. Although born and raised in Iowa, Dreier has been a life-long student of Latin music, studying it at Berklee College of Music in Boston and traveling to Cuba and Brazil numerous times.
Members of ¡RITMOCANO! are drawn from the highest ranks of Iowa’s jazz musicians, including Rich Medd (trombone), Dr. Damani Phillips (sax), Danny Oline (bass), Steve Shanley (piano), Ed Eastand Paul Cunliffe (percussion).