The Three Marias —Sammy Figueroa

If you ever get a chance to see Sammy Figueroa and his fantastic band, don't miss it —I happened to run across his CD, "The Magician" and was knocked out by their joyous celebratory sound so, from then on I had Sammy on my radar —Then, lo and behold, the year after I discovered Sam, I saw his group listed as featured performers at one of the Filoli outdoor Sunday Jazz series shows so, I just had to be there —Now, Filoli is a lovely 16.5 acre estate nestled in the hills of Redwood City, CA, right by Crystal Springs Reservoir that you might recall from the opening credits to the 80s television prime-time soap, "Dynasty" —The lovely English Renaissance garden grounds are such elegant surroundings —And yet, the actual music venue is small, intimate and casual —So, not your usual music venue experience, to say the least —When I got there, I asked the usher where the available seats were, since there was no reserved seating and it appeared quite full —He just points to the side up by the band —I couldn't believe my luck, as I enjoyed the show right off of stage left at the table where it, not only was a tremendous vantage point for the music; it, also, happened to be the same table the band took their breaks at so, I ended up chattin' it up with Sammy and The Boys during and after the show —Great bunch of guys —And, boy, can they bring-it! —Just listen to the authority, command of instruments and fabulous interplay between Sammy on congas and Ludwig Afonso on drums —The two of them sound like a full line of percussionists —Please enjoy, along with Sammy & Ludwig —Troy Roberts, John Michalak (saxophone); Alex Norris, John Lovell (trumpet); Michael Orta, Silvano Monasterios (piano); Gabriel Vivas, Nomar Negroni, Nicky Orta, Gotz Kujack (bass guitar) with my favorite number from "The Magician" —"The Three Marias"...

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Music

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• Sammy Figueroa
• The Three Marias