6/6/25:</br>Zaccai Curtis

After 5 years dark, @exuberance resumes its piano jazz salons with the return of Zaccai Curtis and I could not be more thrilled. 

His stunning album Cubop Lives! with Luques Curtis, Willie Martinez, Camilo Molina and Reinaldo De Jesus received the 2025 GRAMMY® for Best Latin Jazz Album.

While exploring music traditions from the ‘50s, Zaccai’s ambitions are far more than curatorial. With invention, deftness and stunning restraint Zaccai advances those traditions with mature readings that are forward looking and consummately sublime, connecting the past with the present and pointing ahead to futures in the making."It's like a period piece record. It’s not even the type of music I play every day. I don't hear too many people playing it. But it's the music I love. I absolutely love to play it and I study it."Zaccai’s study honors the lineage. Music progresses from its antecedents. Jelly Roll Morton named the confluence of African and Caribbean roots in New Orleans music as "Spanish tinge”. The lineage Zaccai honors includes Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Chano Pozo, Mario Bauzá, Machito, Tito Puente, Tito Rodriguez and Art Blakey as encouraged by mentors that he and brother Luques found in Jackie McLean, Ralph Peterson, Jerry and Andy Gonzalez, Donald Harrison, Brian Lynch and Eddie Palmieri among others. A lifelong study and rich connections inform Cubop Lives!

At 43 Zaccai has accomplished so much: sterling pianist, composer, band leader, producer, author, educator, online mentor to developing musicians, and co-founder of Truth Revolution Recording Collective with nearly 100 albums in distribution. Perhaps he’ll tell us what’s next.

We invite you to join us Friday June 6 at 7pm for an evening of music you will not forget. Invitation is limited to past @exuberance patrons. We have only 85 seats. 2 seats per reply until they’re gone. Can’t wait to see you here.

wishing you well,
Matt