Collaboration: Dos Santos new album "LOGOS" feat. Antibalas horns out 6/15/2018

About 15 years ago I was passing through Austin Texas on my way back from México. My man Adrian Quesada introduced me to musician (and at that time grad student) Alex Chávez. I moved to Austin and lived there for several years, and got to collaborate on a few occasions with Alex and the group MITOTE.

The years went by...Alex earned a Ph.D and is now a professor at Notre Dame and a few years back got an exciting new project called Dos Santos up and running out of Chicago.

Last fall, while on tour with Antibalas, we linked up again and recorded two songs for the new Dos Santos album. The session was a trip: we had very little time in between soundcheck and the gig, so they built an impromptu recording studio across the street from Thalia Hall at 606 Records. Amidst the bins of vinyl and sips of very good tequila, the four of us--Jordan McLean and Eric Biondo (trumpets), Morgan Price (tenor sax) and myself (baritone sax) knocked out the two songs with great charts by Nick Mazzarella.

Thanks to Dos Santos for inviting the Antibalas horns to be a part of this beautiful work.

L-R: Pete "Maestro" Vale, Martín Perna, Alex Chavez

The record is officially out 6/15/2018 on International Anthem. Preview/order the record HERE.

Oct. 1 - NYC - Carnegie Hall: The Music of Bill Withers →

Along with the Antibalas horn section, I'll be part of this tribute to one of my favorite singers of all time, Bill Withers. I'm honored to be part of an amazing cast of singers and musicians, including musical director Greg Phillinganes.

I've been working transcribing and arranging horn parts off the "Live at Carnegie"record and "Hits" for the four piece section including my colleagues Jordan McLean, Ray Mason, and Jas Walton.

MORE INFO: http://www.musicof.org/

Upcoming collab: Fabrizio Cammarata

This September, I'll be headed to Palermo, Sicily to work with singer/songwriter Fabrizio Cammarata on his new album. We met a few years back on my first trip to Palermo and he and I have stayed in loose touch since then.

I'll be bringing some flutes, 1-2 one, some percussion and a few gizmos and we'll see what we come up with.

I am very excited to get back to Sicily. I was able to make a week-long trip after Questlove's Afro-Picks back in 2011. I spent two nights in a grimy hostel in Catania, then took the train across the north side of the island to Palermo, where I met up with Christoph Storbeck, Fabrizio's manager. I spent four or five days there getting to know the town and meeting some musicians and getting lost in the ancient delicious weirdness of Palermo.