Raíces Latin Jazz ensemble to perform Cal Tjader's "Soul Sauce" album at Studio5
A local Latin jazz group is holding a tribute concert to celebrate the life and legacy of its late founder, percussionist, and educator Ruben Alvarez. The performance comes just in time for the 60th anniversary of vibraphonist Cal Tjader's famous album "Soul Sauce" — one of his favorite albums.
Raíces, created in 2016, is a group inspired by and modeled after Tjader's quintet of the 1950s and -60s. Their upcoming performance is a special tribute, especially because "Soul Sauce" was recorded on Nov. 20, 1964, Alvarez's 13th birthday.
Alvarez, who died in 2022, started the group to pay homage to the creators of Latin jazz. They perform original music in addition to sampling the scores of musicians and composers like Tjader, Mongo Santamaria, Tito Puente, Paquito D’Rivera and more.
The "Soul Sauce" album, to be performed in full on Dec. 6 in Evanston's Studio5, blends various styles like mambo, cha-cha-cha, bossa nova, and boogaloo. In the 1960s, it was the decade's top-selling Latin jazz album.
"That album defined the sound of that time,"
the group's vibraphonist Joe Sonnefeldt told La Voz Chicago. "It's so neat to hear from people who like this music ... [it] played a real important part in their life or it reminds them" of a special period in time, he added.
Including Sonnefeldt, the band consists of Bobby Delgado on the drums, Eric Ferrer on the bass, Stewart Seale on the piano and Jorge Leal on the congas.
The group will be joined by a special guest, master conguero Joe Rendón of the Latin jazz ensemble Joe Rendón & Friends, who plays the bongos.
According to the Percussive Arts Society, where he served as the Illinois chapter's vice president, Alvarez grew up in Chicago's Humboldt Park neighborhood, home to the city's largest Puerto Rican population. There, he learned to play the drums on the streets during the community's descargas, or jam sessions.
Vibraphonist Sonnefeldt took over leadership of Raíces after Alvarez's death two years ago. They released their first album shortly before he died.
"He had a chronic [respiratory] condition, and he knew he was dying," Sonnefeldt said. "So we talked about it, and when we were working on the final recording before he passed, he gave me the blessing to continue to group."
Sonnefeldt met Alvarez as a young musician in his 20s, when he sought lessons on the Latin jazz tradition from Alvarez. Eventually, the two became friends and worked together on different projects.
"Sometimes he would ask me to fill in for him on gigs that he was doing," Sonnefeldt said. "He was just a really loving and jovial person who, the moment you met him, you just felt his warmth."
Alvarez was a passionate teacher who taught percussion courses and directed several Latin jazz groups at a handful of Chicago and suburban universities and colleges.
"He had a passion for teaching. He was like an evangelist of Latin rhythms and Latin music," Sonnefeldt said. "And he was really somebody that brought education in Latin music into the mainstream in band programs. He would give clinics to band directors, and he would, you know, go to colleges and give clinics and bring the Latin music and percussion into university music programs."
He performed his music for movie soundtracks and television jingles. Alvarez also collaborated with famous bandleader Eddie Palmieri, singer-songwriter Anita Baker, local Mexican folk music group Sones de Mexico, and the Seattle Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2013, he gained a Grammy nomination for his contributions to Chuchito Valdés' album, "Made in Chicago."