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Our next headlining show in our hometown of Durham, NC is on October 14th at Motorco Music Hall.  GarDel will be sharing the stage with one of the Southeast’s most established indie/progressive salsa bands, Bio Ritmo.  Based out of Richmond, VA, Bio Ritmo has been going strong for twenty years, honoring the salsa dura tradition while adding their own spin to the music.  The two bands have been trying to connect since April, and this fall has been the perfect opportunity because Bio Ritmo is on tour in support of their latest LP, La Verdad.

Here’s what one reviewer had to say about it:

There are only eight tracks on La Verdad but within those tracks are packed more quality salsa grooves and innovations than many bands will ever accrue in their careers. Most importantly, it also manages to be an album that can be enjoyed via headphones or with your feet on the dancefloor, and this is something that many dance-orientated Latin albums miss, too often are they slaves to the rhythm. Give me La Verdadany day of the week.

Exciting, yeah?  Now that we are a few years into our own journey writing original salsa music, we know how important it is that others continue to push the genre forward.  Please support live, local (& regional!) salsa bands.  You can stream and purchase the album at descarga.com, or better yet, come out to our show at Motorco and buy it from the band in person!   See you in October.

Continue reading »]]> New York, Havana, San Francisco, Miami, Madrid: you’ve got nothing on the Triangle.  This week our local alt-weekly put out its reader-voted “Best of” lists for various restaurants, clubs, services, and so on.  They also solicited memories from local activists, businesspeople, politicians.  We were completely caught off guard by this touching account from Heather LaGarde, who is essentially the Queen of Saxapahaw:

Of all the happy, rewarding, inspiring things I’ve seen since returning to the Triangle after so many years away, I would have to say one of my favorites was witnessing Orquesta GarDel play the tiny Hay Wagon stage at the Saxapahaw Farmer’s Market….Farmers, old-timers, gorgeous young things, babies and mommies, hoopers and hipsters took over the entire meadow, all of the market, spilling down to the riverside, and they danced.  Some really knew how to, some were actually salsa dancing, but some of the older folks were waltzing, some doing various forms of swing and disco; the kids were just jumping up and down and twirling…I don’t think the village had ever seen anything like it, and it made me feel like the world was coming together in the best kind of way.

You can read the full quote here, as well as other great stories.  Scroll down the page for the one called “Saxapahaw: Where Life Comes Together.”  Heather, we couldn’t agree with you more and we are always grateful for your support!  This is what it is to live, work, play, make art, and dance in North Carolina.

The LaGardes are co-owners of the new Haw River Ballroom.  Eventually all of the entrepreneurs in the area will co-write a $6 book like the kind you see in the check out lane at Barnes and Noble called “101 Creative Uses for Tobacco and Textile Mills.”

GarDel is returning to Motorco Music Hall this weekend.  If it is anything like our sell-out CD release party in January, you can expect some great photos and videos up on the site next week!

Continue reading »]]> Awhile ago we mentioned that we would be appearing in a music video for our collaboration on The Beast’s Translation.

We started shooting footage in May of 2010 at Cuban Revolution, and in February 2011 the video is finally out!  Directed by Alex Martinez for White Sands Pictures. Look for Nelson and Jaime in middle of the video being the gangster salseros we always knew they were.  Enjoy!

Continue reading »]]> Last Friday was a great night for the Latin music community in North Carolina.  As part of the Carolina Jazz Festival, Eddie Palmieri was in town with an all-star octet for a show at UNC.  Earlier in the day, Eddie conducted an intimate workshop with Charanga Carolina, from which many players have graduated into the ranks of Orquesta GarDel.  Many GarDel members were there to perform for this iconic bandleader and Latin jazz innovator.  At one point Eddie was so heartened by the sounds we were making that he called his wife and held the phone up to the band.

After the main concert of the evening, we all headed over to Talulla’s where Al Strong (2nd trumpet in GarDel) leads a killin’ jazz jam session every Friday.  Most of Eddie’s band came out to hang, and they were ready to play.  Between the UNC jazz cats, Al’s band, the GarDel cats, and a throng of salsa dancers, the fuse was lit for a Latin explosion.  And it happened.

We played a really fun set of GarDel originals and covers with Palmieri guests sitting in on every song.  It turns out that Julio Correa (bongocero for GarDel) went to high school with Little Johnny Rivero, so they got to reminisce.  We learned that phenom bassist Luques Curtis of the Curtis Brothers band is also using Kickstarter to fund an album, so we hope you’ll support it.  It was a special treat to have the esteemed Brian Lynch (whose Simpático with Eddie Palmieri  won a Latin Jazz Grammy in 2007), and Louis Fouché take solos on our own songs Gracias Te Doy and Lo Que Tú Querías.  Orlando Vega was also there to close out the night with a blazing version of “Indestructible.”

We’ll close out the post to give you our favorite audio from this night.  Great GarDel collab with guests on the classic Sonora Ponceña “Boranda.”  Enjoy!

Boranda LIVE @ Talulla’s ft. “Pequeño” Johnny Rivero & Louis Fouche by orquestagardel

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One of our favorite large bands on the scene today is Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society.  ‘Gig postmortem’ is a term respectfully borrowed from their own steampunk way of sharing their music.  Last night’s CD release party will certainly go down in the annals of GarDel history.  Though it was only our first time headlining a show at a music venue, it sold out just as GarDel took the stage.  Not only that, but at least 50 people stayed outside to listen and dance, waiting for the first opportunity to get in!  Needless to say, we were elated and went on to show our gratitude with a high-energy power set that included the live premiere of two original songs, Esta Situación and Gracias Te Doy.  We played both rather closely to the recorded versions  and look forward to opening them up over time.

Also notable was having all thirteen members together on one stage.  Often Ramon, Julio, Jose and Brevan rotate through the three percussion chairs, rendering GarDel as a 12-piece, but we love putting Ramon and his smiling face up front with Jaime and Nelson as often as everyone is available.  Somewhere out there in the crowd were some members of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra who were in town for a show at UNC.  Carolina is also bringing down Eddie Palmieri in a few weeks.  With the number of songs of his we interpret, you’d better believe we will be in attendance.

Our deepest thanks go out to Dark Water Rising for coming up from Fayetteville to open the show.  A teensy minority of the dancers might have been skeptical of a non-salsa band, but Charly’s powerful vocals quickly won the outliers over.

Pictures and video are forthcoming, we can see some fans have already posted some.  Please share the links to your pics below in the comments!  We’ll be announcing a special feature soon with our new friends at salsamerengue.com.

One of the other cool things that the Secret Society does is post music from each of their live shows for free.  In that spirit, here is last night’s version of “Lo Que Tú Quierías”, expertly mixed from the board by Motorco’s own Robbie.

Lo Que Tú Querías, live @ Motorco 01/29/11 by orquestagardel

Continue reading »]]> Here is the third track from our debut EP, Lo Que Tú Querías.  Brand new, never been performed, you heard it here first.  Please stream it and share it with your friends as much as you can! It will not be download-enabled until the rest of the album is posted and for sale next Tuesday.

Continue reading »]]> In 2009 Orquesta GarDel collaborated with The Beast for a hip hop/salsa anthem as part of their debut album, Silence Fiction.  The collaboration was no surprise, GarDel pianist and bassist Eric Hirsh and Pete Kimosh are one half of The Beast.  We’ve worked together to produce a music video for the song, which will be coming out in the next few weeks.  Stay tuned for that!  In the meantime, stream or purchase the audio of the song here:

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The Onda Carolina blog was kind enough to snap a few pictures last night at our last gig for 2010.  The Cobo Brothers picked out The Mint in Raleigh as a new venue to try out the Copa Night dances.  The band had to get creative about layout around the stairs and kitchen door, but the two-story space carried our sound well.  Always a treat to be in a feedback loop with dancers!

Continue reading »]]> My skillset includes piano, band leading, music gesture research, and washing dishes. Surely between all of that I am qualified to try to finagle a WordPress template into looking like a professional band page, right? We’ll get a real designer soon, just need something to start with.