Luis Valle and Afro-Qbamigos

Live at Motion Blue March 7, 2003

Luis Valle—trumpet
Andy Wolff—saxophones
Hiromichi  ???—piano
??? Fujii—drums
Akihiro Tsuzuki—percussion
Kenji Imafuku—percussion
Tetsuo Kazumi—bass
Nathan Ingram—vocals

Afro-Qbamigos has turned into one of the hottest Latin bands in Tokyo. Leader and trumpeter Luis Valle, born into a Cuban musical family in Havana, has settled in Tokyo and formed several bands over the past couple years. Afro-Qbamigos is the most Latin and the most jazz-like. It’s also a tight band. Their intense interaction creates hot, passionate Latin jazz.

Playing to a packed house, the band turned up the heat from the first note. Valle’s originals were given especially good treatment, with the rhythm section pumping the songs full of complex, polyrhythmic energy the entire set. Valle and saxophonist Andy Wolff played melody lines with vitality and verve. Their solos kept the energy level high, even while following bop-like lines far and wide. They both added tasty riffs behind the percussion, vocals and solos, adding just the right amount of pepper at just the right time.

The band’s arrangements contain a potent rhythm. The cross-currents and layers of rhythm make the total sound incredibly complex, but since they push forward so fast and so tight, everything comes together in the wake of the overall sound. The band really listens to each other, and never gets in each other’s way. When a space opens up, it gets filled, and then another opens up after, ratcheting up the energy beat by beat. Latin music has excitement as one of its core values, but Afro-Qbamigos takes that a notch higher. The band knows that excitement comes from a solid base of musical integrity--a real Cuban beat—on top of which roof-raising horn solos (by both Valle and Wolff) and seriously soulful vocals (by Nathan Ingram) sound even hotter.

The band is good at switching to a jazz beat, though, as well. These slower, steadier rhythms showed their accomplished technique well, and gave the audience a chance to catch their breath. Every song added another element to their balanced yet fierce arrangements on standards and originals. They cool the intensity with tastefulness, but never for long. Especially nice was their rendition of “The Two of Us.” The song started out with a standard pop beat sprinkled with Latin percussion, but at the end, Valle raised his hand and the band kicked into a furious, passionate Latin rhythm that had the audience out of their seats.