Robin and I saw the Afro Cuban Allstars at the Strathmore Music Center Tuesday night. They play in DC often but this is the first time I have seen them. Robin was doing a 90 mile ride on the W&OD trail and wasn’t 100% sure she was going to make it back so we didn’t get tickets in advance. We showed up with perfect timing and got decent seats at the back of the floor level. Every seat at the Strathmore is a good seat. They played better than I expected although I didn’t know exactly what to expect. They claim to all have roots from the Buena Vista Social Club and Juan de Marcos, a former member, is the band leader for the Afro Cuban Allstars. There were about a dozen members in the band with a horn section, a couple vocalists, a bassist, drummer, percussionist, and piano player. The piano player was amazing. He put together a few solos with dynamic jams that got you movin’. All of the horn players soloed and they were all very good. They would all thrown down and get a groove on but no one threw down like the piano player.
Juan de Marcos talked a bit about opening up Cuba but was careful to not get too political. There appeared to be many Cubans in the crowd. The band even got everyone to stand up and dance at the end which is not a normal sight at the Strathmore.
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