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Pop: hot ticket
By Times staff
© St. Petersburg Times
published April 18, 2002
Reaching out to the world
Los Hombres Calientes demonstrated real aptitude at improvisation in its last Tampa Bay area appearance. When a late-afternoon rainstorm during the Clearwater Jazz Holiday forced the New Orleans sextet to play without amplification, it went unplugged, pumping out Latin, African, jazz and funk grooves.
The band, co-led by former Headhunters percussionist Bill Summers and young firebrand trumpeter Irvin Mayfield, thrilled 1,200 or so listeners with Summers, at one point, wandering out into the crowd with his shekere instrument.
"We were back there just jamming, and we begged them to let us do that on stage," he said. "I think it came off well, going out into the audience and making them a part of it. The show must go on."
Even before the rain, Summers had talked about Los Hombres Calientes's combustible mix of music. "We're stepping it up," Summers said during an interview. "We don't want to be restrictive. As Irvin puts it, we have a jazz format, but we reach out to the world. That includes music from the Middle East, North Africa, West Africa. . . . It's all fair game to us. It's all worth exploring. We're playing something that's real accessible to the people. We're not doing anything new. But the way that we're mixing it up, the way that we're putting it together, is different."
The group returns to the area at 7 p.m. Sunday at Jannus Landing, Second Street between Central Avenue and First Avenue N, St. Petersburg. Tickets are $17. (727) 896-2276.
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