Frank Leto & PANdemonium

Steel drummer, percussionist, vocalist and composer, Frank Leto leads an ensemble of Albuquerque’s finest jazz musicians in a performance of original compositions from his recently released CD, Celebrations. This performance merges jazz with rumba, comparsa, songo, samba, reggae, batucada, soca, and calypso to explore the sounds of carnaval in Cuba, Brazil, Trinidad and New Orleans. Frank Leto is a multi-dimensional artist who has found a balance between professional musician and professional educator. Leto plays Brazilian percussion, Afro-Cuban percussion and Trinidadian steel drums. He has recorded numerous CDs and has toured Japan, the Philippines, Okinawa and the Hawaiian Islands. His love of rhythm has taken him to Brazil, Puerto Rico and Cuba. While in Cuba, Leto studied soneros with Carlos Embale, tres with Pancho Amat, and batá with Carlos Aldama and the late Regino Jimenez at the Escuela Nacional de Arte. Joining Frank Leto tonight will be César Bauvallet, trombone and percussion; Paul Gonzales, trumpet and flugelhorn; Steve Figueroa, keyboards; Daniel Ward, guitar; Milo Jaramillo, bass; Arnaldo Acosta, drums; and Camilo Quiñones, congas and percussion.