Mar 2, 2026 9:58 PM
In Memoriam: John Hammond Jr., 1942–2026
John P. Hammond (aka John Hammond Jr.), a blues guitarist and singer who was one of the first white American…
Charlie Haden has released Land Of The Sun (Verve), a Latin jazz album drawing on the music of Mexico.
Haden reassembled the band from his 2001 Grammy winner, Nocturne: pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba and drummer Ignacio Berroa. The three were joined by a host of guest artists, including Joe Lovano, Miguel Zenon, Michael Rodriguez, Oriente Lopez and Larry Koonse.
The album concept began when the daughter of Mexican composer Jose Sabre Marroquin, Patricia Mendes, met with Haden after a 2003 performance in Austin, Texas. He had recorded her father’s “Nocturnal” on Nocturne, and she thanked him with a folder of Marroquin’s charts. Rubalcaba and Haden turned some of the traditional arrangements into something fit for improvisational jazz.
In addition to songs from Marroquin, Land Of The Sun features other melodic Mexican music from composers Armando Manzanero and Agustin Lara, as well as an original from Rubalcaba.
“The Latin music people in the United States are exposed to is usually uptempo,” Haden said. “People don’t know about the beautiful ballads that come from Latin America. They don’t hear the love songs. That’s why I want to bring them to the rest of the world.”
For more information, visit www.vervemusicgroup.com
Hammond came to the blues through the folk boom of the late 1950s and early 1960s, which he experienced firsthand in New York’s Greenwich Village.
Mar 2, 2026 9:58 PM
John P. Hammond (aka John Hammond Jr.), a blues guitarist and singer who was one of the first white American…
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