Afro Cuban All Stars

Juan De Marcos Gonzalez, the former drummer of Sierra Maestra, directs the Afro-Cuban All Stars, a collective that has fueled the expanding global reach of Afro-Cuban music. The ensemble’s 1997 release, A Toda Cuba Le Gusta, marked the initial recording made amid the Buena Vista Social Club sessions. Spanning three generations in a single big band whose membership stretches from age 13 to 81, the group draws on every strand of Latin dance music—mambo, cha cha, salsa, rumba, son montuno, timba, guajira, danzón, abakuá, and bolero. In a late-’90s interview Gonzalez stated, “We have to use all the heritage of Cuban music to create a sound of the future.” A holder of doctorates in hydraulic engineering and Russian who once served as a consular official at Havana’s Agronomic Science Institute, Gonzalez assembled the Afro-Cuban All Stars soon after Sierra Maestra disbanded; that earlier ensemble had drawn worldwide notice beginning in 1978. Among the All Stars’ personnel, pianist Ruben Gonzalez and trumpeter Yanko Pisaco stand among Cuba’s finest instrumentalists. Its lead singers have included Pio Leyva, Raúl Planas, and Manuel “Puntillita” Licea. In late 2000 the band welcomed Los Van Van vocalist Pedro Calvo, and shortly thereafter added Caridad Hierrezuelo, born in Santiago de Cuba in 1924.