With music performed and arranged by guitarist Alfredo Muro, and accompanied by percussionist Dave Fischer and bassist Brian Healey, writer and performer Lynn Darroch tells the stories of musicians, writers and others in the Latin world, including salsa star and Panamanian cabinet minister Ruben Blades, Cuban singer and guitarist Eliades Ochoa, Peruvian novelist Gregorio Martinez, immigrant children from Mexico and Brazil, and the tamale vendors of Lima.
"Beyond the Border - Stories of the Latin World" also takes us to Spain and the U.S.-Mexican border in two short, upbeat pieces suitable for airplay.
In the nine stories on this carefully produced album, Darroch weaves his narratives into music from the culture of each story’s subject in a seamlessly integrated performance.
A music journalist living in Portland, Oregon, Darroch has also edited a book of Peruvian writing and traveled extensively in Mexico, Central and South America. His previous CD, "Jazz Stories – Heroes of the Americas," drew praise from the likes of musician and composer Lalo Schifrin and Jazz Times critic Doug Ramsey.
Venues that have hosted Jazz Stories and Beyond the Border performances include Mt. Hood Jazz Festival, Portland Jazz Festival, Wordstock, the Kennedy School, Borders Books and Music, Portland Public Libraries, KMHD and KBOO radio, Warner Pacific College, and Mt. Hood Community College.
Darroch has been writing about jazz and other music for 25 years, and contributes arts-related pieces regularly to The Oregonian. He has written chapters on music figures for "The Encyclopedia of United States Popular Culture" and covered the history of jazz in Portland in the Afterword to "Jumptown: the Golden Years of Portland Jazz." He has edited the book "Between Fire and Love: Contemporary Peruvian Writing," and hosts a show on jazz station KMHD-89.1 FM in Portland.
Alfredo Muro was born in Lima, Peru, where he studied Latin and classical guitar styles while earning his law degree. He moved to the U.S. in 1989, and has performed at the International Guitar Festival in Peru in 2005 and 2007. His CDs include "Journey Through The Strings" and "Alma Brasileira" – Volumes I and II. This year he performed a solo concert at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C .
Now performing live with Beyond the Border -- percussionist Gary Hobbs
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