Pedrito Martinez

Pedrito Martinez

Friday, October 18, 2013 . 7PM & 9PM
Pedrito Martinez
Pedrito Martinez Group photo by Petra Richterova
Principal People: 

Congas, Percussion & Vocals Pedrito Martinez

Cowbell, Percussion & Vocals Jhair Sala

Electric Piano & Vocals Ariacne Trujillo

Bass & Vocals Alvaro Benavides

Special Announcement: 

Due to the Maryland Madness event, we expect parking to be difficult. Please allow extra travel time and plan on arriving early.

Event Attributes

Presented By

Presented By: 
Estimated Length: 
1 hour and 15 minutes minutes with no intermission
Program Notes: 

Cuban-born percussionist Pedrito Martinez began his musical career at the age of 11, performing as vocalist and percussionist with such Cuban legends as Tata Guines and Munequitos de Matanzas. When he was 15, Toronto bandleader Jane Bunnett engaged him to tour North America with her group, Spirits of Havana; two years later, he won the first-ever Thelonious Monk Institute Afro-Latin Hand Drum Competition.

His New York-based Pedrito Martinez Group has its roots planted firmly in the Afro-Cuban rumba tradition and in the bata rhythms and vocal chants of the music of Yoruba and Santeria. His music has won a fan base that includes such musical luminaries as Ravi Coltrane, Taj Mahal, Eric Clapton, John Scofield, Roger Waters and Derek Trucks, among others. Ben Ratliff of the New York Times has called Martinez “an incomparable performer.”

New concert experience!

We’ll transform the Kogod Theatre with table seating and a dance floor. Show off the moves you’ve picked up from the Afro-Cuban/Afro-Brazilian Dance Class held immediately prior to each performance, or relax with a drink from the bar and let Pedrito Martinez take you away.

Profile by The New York Times

It has become a familiar question backstage at festivals, concert halls or anywhere else that musicians gather on the road: Have you heard that amazing Cuban percussionist in New York City? Pedrito Martínez may not yet be known to the public, but among his peers, he is firmly established as a source of rhythmic delight and inspiration.

– LARRY ROHTER, The New York Times, October 7, 2013

Album review by The Washington Post

The album grinds the band leader’s original compositions up against tunes made famous by Led Zeppelin and the Jackson 5 — all played with a zeal that should burnish Martinez’s reputation as one of the most vital and charismatic Afro-Latin percussionists on the planet.

– CHRIS RICHARDS, The Washington Post, October 3, 2013

First Listen: "The Pedrito Martinez Group"

Listen to the Pedrito Martinez Group's new album, which will be released on October 8.

His band is equally full of seemingly impossible resumes… as the Pedrito Martinez Group, all four play three sets a night, three days a week at a Cuban restaurant in Manhattan. How many world-class bands do that anymore?

– PATRICK JARENWATTANANON, NPR Music, September 29, 2013