Check out the spring U.S. tour dates with a full band here!

New Album

Reinvention is a tricky business. Veer too far from the known and one loses existing fans, stick too close to well trod paths and risk being predictable and safe. Rodrigo y Gabriela have gone their own way since they emerged with a bang in the early 2000s as a hypnotizing duo that mingled flamenco attack with metal accents, jazz seductiveness and more. With just two acoustic guitars (and some choice effects and smart use of volume), Rodrigo Snchez (lead guitar) and Gabriela Quintero (rhythm guitar) have become an international sensation, a position gained through raw talent, a unique vision and dedication to pushing themselves into new areas. This last point is shiningly evident on their new release, Area 52 (released January 24 on ATO), which finds them reimagining signature pieces like 11:11 and Hanuman with a group of skilled Cuban musicians and some handpicked guests like metal drummer extraordinaire John Tempesta and sitarist Anoushka Shankar. It is a lively affair, vigorously engaging with familiar territory and finding much new in these fresh hands, which layer horns, violin, piano and oodles of percussion onto their songs. The duo themselves similarly stretch, taking up electric instruments including lap steel and generally throwing hesitation to the wind in order to stir up new sounds.

We spoke with Snchez about the genesis of this project and what it means within the music thats established them as international stars.

Rodrigo Snchez by Mike Hardaker

JamBase: Theres been an appetite amongst some fans to hear what you two would sound like with a smoking band cooking behind you, but how did you end up in Cuba, which doesnt seem like the obvious choice on the surface of things?

Rodrigo: Honestly, the original idea I had at the beginning didnt turn out the way I thought it would. It was more like a project in the middle of two albums, but as my first approach to work with a Latin band – arrived and I told our managers, who liked the idea, it was interesting. But as we started to build the whole thing, I realized Cuba would be a good place to do it. I had been in New York and saw a show with a big Latin jazz band, and thought, Thatd be interesting to do.

At the same time, my management said, You have another year to go touring, so when after that are you going to jump into the studio for the next album? To me, that sounded crazy because weve been on tour for SO long. So, I had to come up with something to keep them happy AND get us a break. But, it didnt turn out to be much of a break [laughs]. Im happy now and embrace it because the results are good. I listen to it and like it. I dont listen to it the same way I listen to my other albums. I think of it as if I were listening to another band, which I enjoy.

Rodrigo y Gabriela

JamBase: Its exciting to hear your music, familiar pieces to any fan, take on new life. The new version of 11:11 is so fearless, so ready to go somewhere it hasnt gone before.

Rodrigo: Thats true, and its one of my favorite tracks. In fact, thats the kind of track I hoped wed go to. Going to Cuba was like taking a music course. We never went to music school, so we dont know how to read or write music everything is in our hands. So, we got involved with musicians who knew how to get into the music with their hands, too, but also knew how to read and understand music in both worlds. It was hard work but we learned a lot. We pushed ourselves to get to their level, and we got to change solos and add to and extend pieces. I got to play the electric guitar again!

Thats one of the more striking elements on this album, especially captured with a full rhythm section and the other instrumentation.

It was something I hadnt tried before on the other two albums and Gabriella as well. She added some of the wah-wah elements she uses onstage but normally doesnt do much on the albums. For her, it was an amazing experience to learn different rhythms that wouldnt clash with all the percussive elements but still retained her guitar as a clear part of the rhythm section. It was a challenge but it came out pretty good.

What did you find came up in your music as it came into contact with Cuban music? Cuban music has an energy and flow thats unique.

Gabriela Quintero by Mike Hardaker

When we were building the whole thing we were sent videos of all the musicians by this guy in Cuba who was setting up everything so we could pick [who would be involved]. If we were looking for a flute player, hed send us videos of five flute players that were available and well recommended. So, we looked for a balance between young and very experienced musicians, but we didnt want to go all the way with traditional musicians. We didnt want to do something like the Buena Vista Social Club [laughs].

Theres definitely a temptation to do something along those lines. Record labels love that sort of thing.

Exactly! To be honest, that was my speech when I sold [the idea] to labels. I thought theyd like that…and they did! I knew I didnt want to go so traditional, but they didnt know that [laughs].

Thats great [laughs]! I think its important with your music, which is young and coming from a different place than the usual corporate music industry, that you would also play with other younger musicians with the same mindset.

Yes! I know that and though we had a lot of young musicians, we also had, for example, the bass player Feliciano Arango Noa, who is a legend in Cuba where hes played on over 200 albums and with all the big stars you can imagine. Hes older than anyone, but even he said, I need to do something different.

Rodrigo y Gabriela

The younger musicians were SO happy. They werent aware of us because the Cuban people arent aware of anything really [due to state control of all imported news and entertainment]. These musicians watched what we did and really got into it. They were really fearless. They were willing to change the clave, which normally for them is a big, big deal.

Its always exciting when someone says there are no rules. This is often where the best music emerges.

Totally! In the classical world, they might not be that excited by this idea because they dont have the same kind of skills the Cubans have. When they go to school in Cuba, they learn classical music not Cuban music. In fact, they dont have schools to teach traditional Cuban music. Thats amazing to me. All the music they play is coming from generations on the street.

Its kept alive person to person.

But they also understand classical music, and everyone can read music and all that, which is why they are so good.

Are there any plans to tour with this group? Being from Cuba, I imagine there are all sorts of complications and challenges to making that happen.

Its very difficult, but we are going to do a couple of tours. The first one is in February in Europe, and then the second in America in April. Were not sure if well be able to bring them all but we want to keep most of the band together. A lot of them play with big bands in Cuba and have other commitments. But we dont want to just hire any musicians to just play. The idea is to add something to our show to reveal something of these tracks [to audiences]. Hopefully, it will be special.

Rodrigo y Gabriela Tour Dates :: Rodrigo y Gabriela News

JamBase | International
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On April 17 the Grateful Dead will be celebrated with a 14-DVD box set titled All The Years Combine: The DVD Collection, to be released by Shout! Factory in collaboration with Rhino Entertainment.

Conceived as the ultimate tribute to the band’s legendary on-stage prowess, the set includes 12 concert films; a 40-page booklet containing rare photos and new liner notes by Blair Jackson; and all bonus features from previous releases of the DVDs in the set.

As a special treat for fans, it also includes an exclusive bonus disc containing five previously unreleased live performances from the Grateful Dead archive, Backstage Pass, the 1992 documentary directed by Justin Kreutzmann, and a brand-new interview with Grateful Dead archivist David Lemieux.

Fans who preorder All the Years Combine: The DVD Collection directly from Shout! Factory will receive an exclusive bumper sticker with their order, while supplies last. Click here for more information.

Superfly Presents, A.C. Entertainment, and publisher Abrams Image, are proud to announce the release of the book, Bonnaroo: What, Which, This, That, The Other. The book is available now, and can be purchased via bonnaroo.com. It will be in stores nationwide on April 1, 2012.

This first official book about the country’s premier summer music and arts festival contains over 400 photos covering all 10 years of Bonnaroo, featuring shots taken by some of the best shooters working in music today, including Danny Clinch, C. Taylor Crothers, Jeff Kravitz, and Ryan Mastro, among others. It also highlights numerous personal anecdotes from fans, the festival producers, various staff, and some of the top musicians and comedians who have performed there.

Bonnaroo: What, Which, This, That, The Other boasts an essay written by Alan Light, frequent contributor to New York Times and Rolling Stone, and Bonnaroo veteran of many years. It was edited by Holly George-Warren, the award-winning author and editor of many books on music and pop-culture.

Full review below photo gallery, and we’ll be back on Friday with a massive photo gallery and our picks for this year’s MVPs!

1/13/12 – Jam Cruise 10: Day 5 (Fort Lauderdale, FL) View Photos

The Spot 01.13.12 – by Dennis Cook

The final day of Jam Cruise usually brings out one of two reactions in people: Smiling denial that the trip is coming to an end or a creeping melancholy that grows more profound as the night consumes the day. Until this point, one is so totally absorbed in this beneficently surreal environment that the world of text messages, alarm clocks and the myriad other obligations that fill our days at home seem not only distant but even grow a little strange given how normal resets by weeks end on the boat. Quite a few folks got out on deck early to snag a chaise lounge in a prime music viewing spot and began a steady regimen of sunbathing and fruity rum cocktails. Others slept off yet another heady night/early morning of wild adventures in the disco or Jam Room, emerging midday bleary and charmingly disoriented, acquaintances quick to throw their arms around them, hand them water and ease them into the last chapter of a story they will retell repeatedly in the coming months. With a masquerade themed final night, many kept the reality of the last day at bay, aided by a later-than-usual arrival in Ft. Lauderdale the next morning, which allowed greater chance of some sleep or extended partying. However one approached Friday, a bittersweet thread wove things together, emotions worn close to the surface, tears falling with a readiness that caught many off-guard, and a pervasive need to share ones feelings, particularly a drive to express ones love for others aloud, permeating the day.

Surprise Me Mr. Davis 01.13.12 – by Brad Hodge

Surprise Me Mr. Davis, looking like men whod fully enjoyed the previous four days of revels, kicked off the official music program on the pool deck, announcing, Rise and shine, sleepyhead, loves been looking for you. A certain off-kilter raggedness suits them, and the set presented their core charms well killer songs, interesting musicianship and a group personality thats achingly honest in a way that makes one feel a touch more real just being around them. Sing-along anthem Everything Must Go exemplified the open-handed, leave-your-worries-behind philosophy at work on Jam Cruise, and for many folks, especially the parents in the audience, So Close To Dreams was a choke-back-tears moment where it truly did seem the world was really magic. One becomes less cynical about a notion like that after more than four days of activities dappled with what seems like real magic, leaving one nicely tenderized in a world that usually rewards toughness and thickness of skin. A hearty endorsement from our Cruise Director Julie capped their set who would return later with an even more exuberant shout-out for Orgone at the end of their set encouraged people to pay more attention to this talented bunch, though left out a ringing endorsement for bassist Marc Friedman, who like kindred spirit Brad Houser in the Dead Kenny Gs, is an easy to overlook musical jewel, quieter in his way but no less lethally gifted or essential to the special formula that makes Surprise Me, well, such a consistently happy surprise.

Pool Deck 01.13.12 – by Brad Hodge

Options for ones time were numerous on Friday. Orgone laid down another great set culminating in one of the covers of JC 10 a blistering run through Funkadelics Cosmic Slop and almost certainly securing passage on future jaunts. Railroad Earth were less intimate than their theatre set on Tuesday but still provided a fitting score for globe trotters and dreamers of the road. A pool party was a blast with a rotating cast of musicians, including Marco Benevento, who practically lived in the pool with his family all week, his ever-present smile lending one to believe he knows something about life we dont but might pick up from his music. Marco later played the final solo piano performance in the evening, a sprightly affair that swept up bits of Phish, boogie ditties and lots more accompanied by his dancing little ones, stars in their own right by this point. During the day, one might have taken in a Song Making Workshop with George Porter Jr., Nathan Moore and others, attended a funky ad hoc game show with the members of Dr. Klaw and Orgone, or been serenaded in a lovely, singer-songwriterly way by Ryan Montbleau or Brock Butler – that is if you missed one of Brocks impromptu, category defying pre-dawn pool deck hootenannys, an unofficial but essential part of Jam Cruise in the past few years.

In fact, its often the unplanned moments that delight one the most, occurrences that arise out of a need to put notes into the air and just see if anyone is snagged by them. For all our premeditation, Jam Cruise evolves each year in ways that cant be pinned down beforehand. This point was epitomized by The Everyone Orchestra, whose kinda-brilliant mastermind Matt Butler led the proceedings in a swanky new open-third-eye conducting jacket and hat gifted to him by on-board painter Lebo. The annual EO concert is a thank you celebration for the direct-impact efforts of Positive Legacy, which this year offset carbon emissions, brought much needed socks and shoes to Haiti, raised funds for building schools and a long list of other worthy achievements that sharply differentiate Jam Cruise from the usual swath-of-consumption that marks cruise ship culture. Yes, we have a good time but theres a faction within Jam Cruise that puts muscle and imagination into leaving a positive footprint wherever this ship sails. Its something different and so is Matt Butler and his endlessly shifting Orchestra, who put on one of the most musically cohesive and revelatory performances Ive seen in my 20 or so times witnessing EO.

The Everyone Orchestra 01.13.12 – by Brad Hodge

The initial lineup onstage for the sound check was staggering: Anders Beck (Greensky Bluegrass) on dobro, Roosevelt (The Lee Boys) on vocals, That 1 Guy as part of the rhythm section with Andrew Barr (The Slip, Barr Brothers, SMMD) on drums and Pete Shand (The New Mastersounds) on bass, a horn section comprised of Jessica Lurie, Brad Houser and Sue Orfield (Tiptons Saxophone Quartet), Brad Barr and Steve Kimock on guitars, Mike Dillon on vibraphone and Luke Quaranta (Toubab Krewe) on percussion. Others would join them while some departed as the segments of this particular EO unfolded, notably some more-soul-than-is-fair vocals from Zach Deputy , spicy harmonica from Matt Hubbard (7 Walkers), and stinging guitar from EO first-timer Anders Osborne, whose presence and playing stirred up some gospel energies that eventually prompted the crowd to their feet. In many respects, this EO session showed off the musical (and even human) potential of Jam Cruise, particularly with Butlers near-unerring knack for picking participants, mingling neophytes with EO vets in ways that keep things fresh but increasingly stable and outright musical. Whats going on with EO is a lusty drive towards engagement, listening, participation, entertainment and enlightenment that tumbles, sprints and saunters in ways that help everyone involved out of their constrictions. Butler is an instigator in the finest sense of the word, easing us out of our comfort zones, tentatively at first but with more force and sureness with each step until were lovingly French kissing the moment. If you took the full ride at this years Positive Legacy performance you surely left feeling youd experienced something and not just another concert, a journey that dabbled its toes in the Ganges and raged dirty blues style, screamed about being positive and skipped like carefree children, everything intense and lovely and real as it gets. More thoughts on Butler and his improvised orchestras in the months to come as he prepares to release the first studio EO album in 2012, but suffice it to say I told him hes a genius after this set, and genius is a word I withhold for very special people only, a descriptor earned through extraordinary talent and dedication to ones vision. Matt has more than earned it after what I witnessed on Jam Cruise this year..

Where one washes up for the final hours of Jam Cruise depends a lot on their personality and how tenaciously theyre holding onto the party vibe. On the main stages, the final sets were covered by guest filled performances from Galactic, who served the funk faithful well in the theatre, The Heavy Pets, who riled up the next generation of jam band fans in the Zebra Bar, or best, in my opinion, Toubab Krewe on the pool deck, throwing a wide, strong net over the world and pulling in shimmering pieces of Africa, Brazil, South America and more to a foundation that is unmistakably American, the blues and rock dancing with these new partners in original ways and inspiring some of the sweetest guest turns all cruise from members of Larry Keel, members of Railroad Earth and more. The playfulness and willingness to embrace mistakes and stumbles made Toubabs set wonderful punctuation on the official programmed music this year. Not everything need to be perfect in order for it to work, and Toubab was daring and intriguing right up until the very end, an ideal band for an adventure built around taking chances.

The Spot 01.13.12 – by Dennis Cook

The costumed, grasp-every-last-dance folks shook it madly in the disco with DJ Logic or splashed around in groove in the Jam Room, where The New Mastersounds Snidely Whiplash-mustachioed guitarist Eddie Roberts held court, starting off with his new trio with all-stars Adam Dietch (drums) and Robert Walter (keys) who I gave the new nickname The Pimp this year for so many reasons – and eventually letting scores of New Orleans killers and others join in on their fun, keeping the bar packed and buckwildin lively until nearly sunrise. However, if one were feeling a bit more reflective, The Spot – the extremely loose pickin party on the deck outside the Jam Room hosted by Nathan Moore – was a natural fit. Singing unifying tunes like Stand By Me and My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean, the ebbing and flowing crowd gathered around the core musicians sitting on the deck, Moore joined by Spot regulars Brad Barr, RREs Tim Carbone, Greenskys Paul Hoffman and Anders Beck. Amidst cicada conversational chatter and a lot of boozy huggin n kissin, the musicians off-handedly tossed out songs that one was welcome to listen to or join in on, not caring all that much about focused attention, aware that these final hours were about cementing connections and simply savoring the journey wed experienced together. Wet eyes and big smiles were all around, and the best summation came to me from a new friend Id made the previous year on his first Jam Cruise, a snippet attributed to Dr. Seuss but not found in his writings that balms the sting of letting something this amazing go:

“Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.”

The Spot 01.13.12 – by Dennis Cook

Most of us cried anyway but happy tears, most leaving a bit more loved and a bit more loving, vowing to return same time next year to do it again with even greater gusto, increasingly aware each time we step on-board of how our own level of engagement and enthusiasm ripples out to others. Yes, Jam Cruise is a music festival a damn fine one at that but what makes it singular is how it presents a host of humanity at their best and offers each of us inspiration to be a little better than our past, a little kinder and more giving, a bit more ready to accept differences and recognize shared traits. Much as I love a good metal pounding or punk rock boot to the head, Jam Cruise has become my standard for what a music gathering can do in ones life. If one sluffs off their cynicism and embraces the energies of this trip the potential ramifications in ones life are huge. As in past years, I ended this journey ready to go out in the world and get things done, armed in subtle ways to battle fear and doubt, psyched to make the world a better and more tuneful place, and anxious to write some poetry of my own and help others build their stanzas, too. I can think of a no more rejuvenating way to start a year if music is the key one uses to unlock the universe. Jam Cruise places a golden lock un-scrambler in our hands and gives us a friendly push to step through doors that have been closed to us in the past. Yes, a LOT of great music transpired, but perhaps more importantly, we tasted greatness in the larger sense and left with an appetite for more, better people than when we set out on Monday, and for this my gratitude knows no bounds for the many hard working Cloud 9 staff, MSC Poesia crew, technical support and musicians who made this possible. Jam Cruise is a gift that keeps on giving, especially if one answers the call inside that sounds as we docked again in Ft. Lauderdale – weary, bleary and thoughtful but knowing one has been in the embrace of people at their brightest and best.

JamBase | Well Traveled
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