Son Amigos Downloads

Born into a family of musicians in Havana, Cuba on April 22, 1940, José Luís Martínez has had a long history in music. As a poor child, José Luís fended for himself by singing Cuban son for tips on the city's buses. Little did he know that he would later go on to... Learn More »

Born into a family of musicians in Havana, Cuba on April 22, 1940, José Luís Martínez has had a long history in music. As a poor child, José Luís fended for himself by singing Cuban son for tips on the city's buses. Little did he know that he would later go on to travel the world playing and recording his music. The variety of Cuban music that José Luís was surrounded by included son, cha cha cha, bolero, guaracha, danzón and the more African styles of rumba and abakua. Equally important in his early years as a guitarist and singer were the rock and rollers of the day such as Elvis Presley, Bill Haley, Fats Domino and Little Richard, and there is an unmistakable tinge of the blues in his playing. As a young man, José Luís founded a vocal and guitar trio called Lourdes Gil y Los Galantes. He later went on to work with two extremely influential Cuban trios: Los Modernos and Trío Taícuba and in 1969 he co-founded the most internationally known Cuban band of all time: Los Van Van. After touring for a few years and recording their first album, José Luís left Los Van Van to form other ensembles that would take him and his music to cities such as Paris, London, Madrid, Amsterdam, Moscow, Lima, Tokyo, Beijing, Abu Dhabi, and most recently New York. In his time off from performing and recording, José Luís worked as a professor of music theory, counterpoint and harmony at the Escuala Nacional de Arte, the Centro Nacional de la Formacion de Maestros and other universities. In 1989, José Luís moved from Cuba to Spain, where in 2001 he played an instrumental role in the founding of the Latin Grammy nominated group Café Quijano, and wrote the vocal and orchestral arrangements for their first CD for Warner Bros., Spain.

Since moving to New York in the spring of 2003, José Luís has performed with the top musicians the city has to offer, given concerts and workshops in theaters, concert halls, clubs and universities, and has formed José Luís & Son Amigos along with two young and talented local musicians: Kenny Kozol and Josh Levine.

Percussionist and composer Kenny Kozol grew up in Boston where he was exposed to the finest jazz musicians at a young age. The chance to hear and meet people like Joe Henderson, Ahmad Jamal, Tito Puente, and Sonny Rollins encouraged him to pursue a life in music. He went on to study both saxophone and drumming in New Orleans, New York, Cuba, Mexico, The Dominican Republic and many other parts of Latin America. He has performed with Dr. Billy Taylor, and recorded and performed his compositions with Roswell Rudd, Thurman Barker, Juma Santos, and Famoro Dioubate. Kenny is also a music educator and in 2002 was awarded a grant by Columbia University to gather children's songs in the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Puerto Rico.

Bassist and singer Josh Levine grew up in New York City and began playing the upright bass as a child. In high school he played with the New York All City Jazz Band. He went on to study music at the Oberlin Conservatory and has performed with many top jazz artists including the Cotton Club All-stars and Donald Walden.

José Luís & Son Amigos is Cuban music at its purest. Through three part vocal harmonies, acoustic guitar, double bass and percussion they beautifully interpret son, guaracha, cha cha cha, bolero, rumba and other Cuban rhythms. In addition, Son Amigos performs many other styles including Brazilian samba and bossa nova, Venezuelan joropo, Argentine tango, Columbian bambuco, American jazz, and more. As composers they have begun to create their own style of music to expand the canon and bring their audiences something new.
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