Hot jazz on a cool night

There are all kinds of jazz—big band, ragtime, bebop, boogie-woogie, electronic, and gypsy, to name a few. But the hottest jazz? Hands down, it’s Latin jazz. And you’ve never heard Latin jazz until you’ve experienced the hot Cuban rhythms of one of the all-time greats of the genre, Chucho Valdés.

Senior Kyle Baker plays jazz guitar in five different Denison ensembles and in several area restaurants and nightspots, so you might say he’s got a good ear for the music. “Some people have these misconceptions about jazz, that it’s all self-indulgent solos, but Latin jazz—Chucho’s jazz —is different. His music is based on Latin rhythms, and the players really work together to create this complex movement of sound and music. It just leaves you feeling really good.”

Valdés will swing out in Swasey this Friday night at 8 p.m.