Biography
A multi-generational big band drawn from Havana’s premier musicians and standout innovators of New York’s Latin scene, Orquesta Akokán refreshes the classic Cuban mambo, rhumba, son, tumbao, and cha-cha-cha era while incorporating contemporary Latin jazz. The Yoruban expression “akokán,” adopted by Cubans to denote “from the heart,” supplies the ensemble’s name. Its 2018 self-titled debut appeared on Daptone after four days of recording at Havana’s Areito Studios. International touring later brought the musicians back to the Cuban capital, where further work at Egrem Studios produced 16 Rayos, released in October 2021. In 2024 the band joined veteran Cuban lyricist, singer, and composer Kiko Ruiz on the album Caracoles.
Shared vision among singer José “Pepito” Gómez, producer Jacob Plasse, and arranger Michael Eckroth gave rise to the Orquesta. Gómez launched his career in Florida, Camagüey province, central Cuba, performing locally and playing trumpet in the municipal band before securing his first professional role as lead vocalist with the legendary Maravilla de Florida. Two years later he relocated to Havana, entering La Charanga Latina and gaining his initial European and North American tours. After several years he departed to pursue independent work yet accepted recording and touring engagements with Colé-Colé, Azúcar Negra, and Compay Segundo (Buena Vista Social Club) to sustain himself. He subsequently joined musicians from Irakere to establish Habana Ensemble, through which he encountered legendary pianist, composer, and Los Van Van co-founder César “Pupy” Pedroso. Pedroso recruited Gómez as lead singer for the newly formed Pupy y Los Que Son, Son. In 2008 Gómez moved to New York, continuing personal projects until 2012, when he relocated to Puerto Rico to perform with José Lugo’s Guasabara Combo. Two years afterward he returned to New York, singing again with various groups including Los Hacheros, directed by Jacob Plasse. Shared devotion to Cuban music forged a close bond between Gómez and Plasse; together they revisited sounds Gómez recalled from childhood, an exploration that ultimately produced Orquesta Akokán.
Plasse, seeking the vintage Latin sounds that first drew him to the genre, assembled Los Hacheros from favored salsa musicians. The group recorded its album Pilon live to an old 388 Tascam tape machine; repeated performances established Los Hacheros as old-school salseros. During the same period Plasse played tres for the musical Celia, centered on Celia Cruz’s life, where he met pianist Mike Eckroth. Musical kinship led the pair to record together and establish Chulo Records, devoted to vintage Latin music. Flor de Toloache soon joined the label; Las Caras Lindas, produced by Plasse, received a Latin Grammy for best Mariachi/Ranchero Record—the first win in that category by an all-female ensemble. Eckroth, offering a Beny Moré album, further deepened Plasse’s engagement with Cuban repertoire.
A composer and arranger from Phoenix, Arizona, Eckroth has recorded and toured worldwide with jazz and Latin figures including Johnny “Dandy” Rodriguez, Andy Gonzales, Nelson Gonzales, Pedro Martinez, and John Scofield. He earned a PhD from NYU for a thesis on Cuban piano solos of the 1940s, granting access to an extensive archive of rare Cuban recordings. His arranging skill and deep knowledge of Cuba’s great big-band traditions completed the trio.
Eckroth and Plasse initially sought opportunities to perform alongside Gómez. They prepared arrangements for a planned recording of older-style Cuban material written by the singer, yet early sessions with New York musicians proved uninspiring. The project gained direction only when Gómez invited the pair to Havana. Their arrival at legendary Areito Studios on November 7, 2017, placed them inside the cavernous, wood-paneled room where state labels Areito, EGREM, and Panart captured virtually every major Cuban album since the early 1940s. The living musicians assembled there, rather than historical echoes, proved most compelling. Gómez summoned longtime Irakere colleague César Lopez; together they gathered many of Cuba’s greatest living players, several long admired by Plasse and Eckroth. Tenor saxophonists Jamil Shery and José Luis “El Chewy” Hernandez, baritone saxophonist Evaristo Denis, and alto saxophonist César Lopez formed the saxophone section. Trombonists included Carlos “Afrokán” Alvarez Guerra of Cubanismo renown, Heikel Fabián Trimiño, and Yoandy Argudin; trumpeters comprised Santiago Ceballos Seijido and Harold Madrigal Frías; Itai Kriss handled flute. Eduardo Lavoy Zaragoza played bongo, Otto Santana Selis handled conga, and Carlitos Padron shared timbale duties. With Eckroth’s charts and Gómez at the front, these musicians constituted Orquesta Akokán’s core. The resulting tracks reached Brooklyn and Daptone Records, which issued the single “Mambo Rapidito” b/w “Un Tabaco para Elegua” in February 2018, followed by the full-length album in March. Global acclaim brought Grammy and Latin Billboard nominations, after which the band embarked on international tours that included Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, WOMAD in Australia and New Zealand, the North Sea Jazz Festival, and Bogota’s Festival Salsa al Parque.
Delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the thirteen-piece ensemble reconvened at Havana’s Egrem Studio in early spring 2021. Ten original songs, rooted in the island’s rhythmic traditions yet extending beyond mambo’s established forms into folk and religious sources, were recorded. The opening track and first single, “Mi Conga Es de Akokán,” merged the serpentine rhythms of Santiago de Cuba conga with mambo’s potent brass. Titled 16 Rayos, the album appeared in October.
After two international tours, Orquesta Akokán returned to the studio in early 2024 to work with singer, lyricist, composer, and veteran Kiko Ruiz (Estrellas del Buena Vista Social Club, Orquesta Maria Alejandra y Cubanía). The resulting album, Caracoles, was released in July 2024.
Shared vision among singer José “Pepito” Gómez, producer Jacob Plasse, and arranger Michael Eckroth gave rise to the Orquesta. Gómez launched his career in Florida, Camagüey province, central Cuba, performing locally and playing trumpet in the municipal band before securing his first professional role as lead vocalist with the legendary Maravilla de Florida. Two years later he relocated to Havana, entering La Charanga Latina and gaining his initial European and North American tours. After several years he departed to pursue independent work yet accepted recording and touring engagements with Colé-Colé, Azúcar Negra, and Compay Segundo (Buena Vista Social Club) to sustain himself. He subsequently joined musicians from Irakere to establish Habana Ensemble, through which he encountered legendary pianist, composer, and Los Van Van co-founder César “Pupy” Pedroso. Pedroso recruited Gómez as lead singer for the newly formed Pupy y Los Que Son, Son. In 2008 Gómez moved to New York, continuing personal projects until 2012, when he relocated to Puerto Rico to perform with José Lugo’s Guasabara Combo. Two years afterward he returned to New York, singing again with various groups including Los Hacheros, directed by Jacob Plasse. Shared devotion to Cuban music forged a close bond between Gómez and Plasse; together they revisited sounds Gómez recalled from childhood, an exploration that ultimately produced Orquesta Akokán.
Plasse, seeking the vintage Latin sounds that first drew him to the genre, assembled Los Hacheros from favored salsa musicians. The group recorded its album Pilon live to an old 388 Tascam tape machine; repeated performances established Los Hacheros as old-school salseros. During the same period Plasse played tres for the musical Celia, centered on Celia Cruz’s life, where he met pianist Mike Eckroth. Musical kinship led the pair to record together and establish Chulo Records, devoted to vintage Latin music. Flor de Toloache soon joined the label; Las Caras Lindas, produced by Plasse, received a Latin Grammy for best Mariachi/Ranchero Record—the first win in that category by an all-female ensemble. Eckroth, offering a Beny Moré album, further deepened Plasse’s engagement with Cuban repertoire.
A composer and arranger from Phoenix, Arizona, Eckroth has recorded and toured worldwide with jazz and Latin figures including Johnny “Dandy” Rodriguez, Andy Gonzales, Nelson Gonzales, Pedro Martinez, and John Scofield. He earned a PhD from NYU for a thesis on Cuban piano solos of the 1940s, granting access to an extensive archive of rare Cuban recordings. His arranging skill and deep knowledge of Cuba’s great big-band traditions completed the trio.
Eckroth and Plasse initially sought opportunities to perform alongside Gómez. They prepared arrangements for a planned recording of older-style Cuban material written by the singer, yet early sessions with New York musicians proved uninspiring. The project gained direction only when Gómez invited the pair to Havana. Their arrival at legendary Areito Studios on November 7, 2017, placed them inside the cavernous, wood-paneled room where state labels Areito, EGREM, and Panart captured virtually every major Cuban album since the early 1940s. The living musicians assembled there, rather than historical echoes, proved most compelling. Gómez summoned longtime Irakere colleague César Lopez; together they gathered many of Cuba’s greatest living players, several long admired by Plasse and Eckroth. Tenor saxophonists Jamil Shery and José Luis “El Chewy” Hernandez, baritone saxophonist Evaristo Denis, and alto saxophonist César Lopez formed the saxophone section. Trombonists included Carlos “Afrokán” Alvarez Guerra of Cubanismo renown, Heikel Fabián Trimiño, and Yoandy Argudin; trumpeters comprised Santiago Ceballos Seijido and Harold Madrigal Frías; Itai Kriss handled flute. Eduardo Lavoy Zaragoza played bongo, Otto Santana Selis handled conga, and Carlitos Padron shared timbale duties. With Eckroth’s charts and Gómez at the front, these musicians constituted Orquesta Akokán’s core. The resulting tracks reached Brooklyn and Daptone Records, which issued the single “Mambo Rapidito” b/w “Un Tabaco para Elegua” in February 2018, followed by the full-length album in March. Global acclaim brought Grammy and Latin Billboard nominations, after which the band embarked on international tours that included Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, WOMAD in Australia and New Zealand, the North Sea Jazz Festival, and Bogota’s Festival Salsa al Parque.
Delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the thirteen-piece ensemble reconvened at Havana’s Egrem Studio in early spring 2021. Ten original songs, rooted in the island’s rhythmic traditions yet extending beyond mambo’s established forms into folk and religious sources, were recorded. The opening track and first single, “Mi Conga Es de Akokán,” merged the serpentine rhythms of Santiago de Cuba conga with mambo’s potent brass. Titled 16 Rayos, the album appeared in October.
After two international tours, Orquesta Akokán returned to the studio in early 2024 to work with singer, lyricist, composer, and veteran Kiko Ruiz (Estrellas del Buena Vista Social Club, Orquesta Maria Alejandra y Cubanía). The resulting album, Caracoles, was released in July 2024.
Albums
Singles
