Omar Sosa: Quarteto Americanos

**Quarteto Americanos** is Omar Sosa’s first U.S.-based jazz ensemble since the 1990s!  Featuring drummer **Josh Jones**, bassist **Ernesto Mazar Kindelán**, and saxophone / clarinet / flute player **Sheldon Brown**, the group came together in February 2021 when Omar was in the Bay Area for several live streams.  Connecting with Josh and Sheldon was a gratifying reunion for Omar, as he played extensively with them during his early days in San Francisco and Oakland in the late 1990s.  **Josh Jones**’ Trio at the time, including Omar and bassist Geoff Brennan, played frequently at Bay Area clubs.  Josh remains one of Omar’s favorite drummers - a versatile musician and educator equally at home in Latin, jazz, hip-hop, and fusion styles.  **Sheldon Brown** was a member of Omar’s first Septet ensemble in the Bay Area, performing in San Francisco and Oakland and around the world in support of Omar’s earliest recording projects, ‘**Free Roots**’, ‘**Spirit of the Roots**’, and ‘**Bembón**’, also known as the Roots Trilogy.  Sheldon is a talented composer, arranger and producer whose first recording, ‘Shifting Currents‘, caught Omar’s ear when he first moved to San Francisco in 1995.  **Ernesto Mazar Kindelán** is a dynamic Cuban musician who came to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2014 following a ten-year stint with **Charanga Habanera**, the celebrated Cuban timba band from Havana.

Omar’s **Quarteto Americanos** plays a number of arrangements of Omar’s signature compositions from his early career, including ‘**My Three Notes’**, ‘**Angustia**’, and ‘**Toridanzón**’, as well as new songs written by Omar in Barcelona during the lockdown in 2020.  Like Omar’s oeuvre, **Quarteto Americanos**’ repertoire is eclectic and energizing.  Its improvisational approach seamlessly fuses elements of jazz, Latin, hip-hop, and electronica into an exciting, passionate, contemporary sound.