Sangre Nueva

Salsa played live is a conversation. A trumpet answers a conga, a piano pushes the singer forward, and nobody in the room stays seated for long. Sangre Nueva has been having that conversation in Los Angeles for more than twenty-five years.

The band was founded in 2000 by its leader and musical director, Juan Karlos Jimenez, as eight musicians playing Cuban music and the styles that grew out of it: salsa, danzón, cha cha chá, Latin jazz. In 2009 they took the name Sangre Nueva — new blood — and became one of the city's premier salsa bands. Today the nine players come from different countries and trained at Berklee College of Music, the University of Texas, the University of Southern California and the Escuela Nacional de Arte de Cuba, and they share one hard-won mastery: the style of Puerto Rican salsa with its Cuban roots.

The Man on the Timbales

Juan Karlos was born in Veracruz, Mexico, and has worked as a Latin percussionist in Los Angeles since 2002. His résumé reads like a history of the music he plays: he has performed with Cheo Feliciano, Tito Gómez, Andy Montañez, Víctor Manuel, Tony Vega, Johnny Rivera, Tito Rojas, Ednita Nazario, José José, Luis Fonsi and José Feliciano. He played with Rubén Blades at the Special Olympics under the maestro Ángel "Cuco" Peña, and with Gilberto Santa Rosa and Johnny Ventura at the Latin Grammy Awards in 2012. In 2023 he brought his percussion to a night of Latin music alongside Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak. He is endorsed by Toca Percussion.

Twenty-Five Years of Nights

The band has played festivals the length of California and the rooms where this music actually lives: the Rumba Room, the Mayan, Clifton's Republic, the Conga Room, the Catalina Jazz Club, El Floridita, the Granada Nightclub, the Casino San Manuel. It opened for Ismael Miranda and accompanied Frankie Ruiz Jr. The City of Los Angeles gave it certificates of recognition in 2010 and 2012. After a two-year sabbatical the band returned in 2017 with new songs and a new sound, and an album is on the way: salsa, Latin jazz, bolero and original compositions.

Raíces & Ritmos

When Juan Karlos brought the plan for this evening to the Symphony, he called it Raíces & Ritmos — roots and rhythms, where our roots meet the rhythm of this generation. It is built in four parts. It opens with the traditions that made the music possible: African rhythm, Latin American song and American jazz in the same room. It moves through the evolution of Latin jazz, from the classic influences to contemporary arrangements, with room for improvisation. Then the band takes the stage with its own sound — jazz, funk, soul and Afro-Latin rhythms — joined by special guest artists. And it closes with a celebration of rhythm, built to send everybody home humming.

An Orchestra Joins the Band

For this concert the nine players are not alone. They are joined by the full San Bernardino Symphony orchestra: the rhythms of Latin jazz, salsa, merengue and cumbia carried by the band, with the brass, reeds, strings and percussion of the orchestra behind them. That is what makes the afternoon. A club date is a night out; this is the same music with an entire symphony at its back.

Before You Come

There is nothing to prepare and no correct way to listen. The music is in Spanish, in English, and in no words at all. Listen for the timbales and the congas at the front of the band, and for the trumpets that answer them; then listen behind them for the orchestra. Bring someone who has never heard salsa played by nine musicians and a full symphony.