The Pedrito Martinez Group
"The Pedrito Martinez Group is the real thing. They had the club JUMPING! It
made me feel like a teenager!"
Quincy Jones, May 28, 2013
"The more you listen to him, the more you realize he is, almost impossibly, both a
cosmopolitan entertainer and an authentic folklorist."
NPR Music First Listen Sept 29, 2013
"If anyone can move Afro-Cuban music [to] greater visibility, it’s Martinez."
Sasha Frere-Jones, The New Yorker, May 14, 2012
“….an incomparable performer.”
Ben Ratliff, New York Times
“…dizzying rhythmic webs, songs within songs, and the thrill of real Cuban
rumba transformed into something as hip and irresistible as great pop.”
-Larry Blumenfeld, Wall Street Journal Oct 17, 2013
The Pedrito Martinez Group [PMG] came together in 2005 at a Cuban restaurant
in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen, called Guantanamera. A scene has developed since
then around the group that has attracted musicians from all over the world,
including, Eric Clapton, Derek Trucks, Ruben Blades, John Scofield, Steve Gadd,
Steve Winwood and Taj Mahal, to name a few.
Pedrito Martinez
Pedro Pablo “Pedrito” Martinez was born in Havana, Cuba, Sept 12, 1973. He
began his musical career at the age of 11, performing as vocalist and percussionist
with such Cuban legends as Tata Guines and Los Munequitos de Matanzas. He
was brought to Canada in 1998, by bandleader, Jane Bunnett, and decided to
remain in North America to pursue his career. Two years later he took first place
in the annual Thelonious Monk Institute Competition for Afro-Latin Hand
Drumming.
A consummate master of Afro-Cuban folkloric music, he doesn’t just play the
obligatory handful of standard batá rhythms – he plays the monumentally
complex Oru seco exquisitely on each drum, or on all three at once. He’s also the
world’s first-call rumbero – playing, singing and dancing with dozens of groups
and on over 100 recordings and contributing to or appearing ing in several
important films, including Calle 54 (2000) and Chico and Rita (2010).
Equally at home in popular music, his perfectly intoned tenor voice, seamlessly
combines popular and folkloric influences, infectious energy, humor, charisma
and dance moves make him as formidable a front man as he is a percussionist.
He draws on these many talents simultaneously and continuously in PMG.
Since settling in New York City in the fall of 1998, Pedrito has recorded and/or
performed with Paquito D’Rivera, Wynton Marsalis, Paul Simon, Eddie Palmieri,
Bebo Valdés, Bruce Springsteen, Michele Rosewoman, Cassandra Wilson; Brian
Lynch, Arturo O’Farrill, Joe Lovano, Issac Delgado, Edie Brickell, Eliane Elias,
Stefon Harris, Gonzalo Rubalcaba and Sting, (for his rainforest benefit, with
Elton John, James Taylor, Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga.)
Mr. Martínez was a founding member of the highly successful, Afro-Cuban/AfroBeat band, Yerba Buena, with which he recorded two albums and toured the
world.
The Pedrito Martinez Group has appeared at Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Apollo
Theater, Newport Jazz Festival, globalFest, New Orleans Jazz & Heritage
Festival, TED Conference, Montreal Jazz Festival, The Red Sea Festival,
Montreux Jazz Fest, Sydney Festival, Bonnaroo, SF Jazz, Yoshi’s/San Francisco,
London Jazz Festival, Umbria Summer and Winter Jazz Festivals, North Sea
Festival, Saratoga Jazz Festival, Yerba Buena Gardens Festival/San Francisco,
Festival Internationale, Carnaval on the Mile, The Playboy Jazz Festival, The
Barbican/London with Wynton Marsalis, The Jazz Standard NYC, Calle Ocho
Festival, Le Duc Lombard/Paris. .
Honors that Pedrito has received include with the Thelonius Monk Award-first
place, for Afro-Latin Hand Percussion in 2000; The Sphinx Medal of Excellence,
2014; The Jazz Journalists Association “Percussionist of the Year”, 2014;
Modern Drummer Readers Poll #1 “Percussionist of the Year”, 2014, Downbeat
Magazine’s one of the “80 Coolest Things in Jazz Today.”
An album by Pedrito Martinez, called “Rumba de la Isla”, featuring the music of
the flamenco great, Camarone de la Isla, was released on Calle54/Sony in March
of 2013
PMG’s first studio album, “The Pedrito Martinez Group”, was released, October
8, 2013, on Motema Music. It was produced by Steve Gadd and Pedrito Martinez
and features special guests, Wynton Marsalis, John Scofield, Steve Gadd, Marc
Quinones and Gary Schreiner. The album was chosen among NPR’s Favorite
Albums of 2013, NPR’s First Listen, iTunes Top Ten Jazz Albums for 2013, and
The Boston Globe Critics Top Ten Albums of 2013..”
Ariacne Trujillo
Born in Havana, Ariacne Trujillo began her career as a child prodigy concert
pianist. Blessed with perfect pitch, she was able to graduate with honors from
Cuba’s hyper-competitive ISA conservatory while working as a singer and dancer
at the legendary Cabaret Tropicana. Since arriving in New York City in 2002,
Ariacne has performed or recorded with Paul Simon ("Song of the Capeman"
Brooklyn Academy of Music, 2008), Paquito D’Rivera, Johnny Pacheco, Oscar de
Leon,, Isaac Delgado, and Savion Glover.
Such impressive bona fides aside, the most important qualities Trujillo brings to
the mix are her ability to improvise both form and content, and her truly
relentless sense of time. It’s standard Cuban practice to break down to piano,
clave and kick drum, but PMG repeatedly breaks down to piano – just piano –
and you have to experience it in concert to believe the unstoppable groove that
Trujillo lays down – often while singing lead in her powerful and endlessly
flexible voice.
The range of expression in Ariacne’s playing and singing encompasses classical,
Afro Cuban, opera, ballet, blues, jazz R&B, soul, and funk.
In 2005, Ariacne joined The Pedrito Martinez Group. Ari and Pedrito have since
developed an astoundingly close musical connection.
Alvaro Benavides
A scholarship from Berklee College of Music brought bassist Álvaro Benavides to
the United States from his native Venezuela. Like Trujillo, he’s a brilliant soloist
with unshakeable timing that allows him to shoulder the entire groove when the
rest of the musicians drop out, or to power the band to a devastating bomba
climax with wicked thumps, slaps and slides that congeal and combust with
Pedrito’s cajón to produce as powerful and uplifting a rhythmic surge as the
largest and most aggressive Cuban bands.
"Electric bassist Alvaro Benavides, in his Jimi Hendrix T-shirt, blends jazz, funk
and rock into constantly shifting rhythmic patterns, first supporting, then
leading, then playing counterpoint, all in the space of mere seconds."
Don Macica, Aguzate
Jhair Sala
Born in Perú and raised in New York, Jhair Sala spent his formative years
studying intensively with Pedrito Martínez having met Pedrito when he was ten
years old. He’s now in high demand as a session musician and bandleader in his
own right, but there’s an uncanny magic when he plays with Pedrito. Jhair’s
touch, timing, and feel, are truly remarkable and with literally thousands of hours
of studying, performing and jamming together, the two drummers play as one.
"Jhair Sala, who plays cowbell and bongos, shares an intuitive rapport with
Martinez, whom he has known for most of his life. He can shift a groove
substantially yet subtly with just a slight alteration of pace or pitch."
Larry Blumenfeld, Jazziz Magazine Dec 2012
Bios written by Kevin Moore, author of the Beyond Salsa series, and editor
of timba.com.