Alex Alvear & Mango Blue
Alex Alvear
Image courtesy of the artist
Alex Alvear & Mango Blue blends an exciting mixture of musical styles to create a refreshing new sound in Afro-Latin and world music through songs of celebration and social conscience. Alex Alvear & Mango Blue is a high-powered, all-original music ensemble that has delighted audiences and promoters alike throughout the Americas with its infectious sound. Led by Ecuadorian composer, bassist, and singer Alex Alvear, this invigorating hybrid playfully integrates a wide array of influences from R&B, jazz, and funk to Caribbean roots, with a strong rhythmical foundation that draws from diverse Afro-Latin musical traditions. This stylistic fusion allows for a concoction that translates into music that transcends ethnic boundaries, providing a new color in the Latin music palette.
The members of this band come from different parts of the world including Venezuela, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, the U.S., and Ecuador and are among the best instrumentalists in the region. Alvear's credits include recordings and/or performances with internationally acclaimed artists such as Celia Cruz, Orlando "Puntilla" Rios, Paquito D'Rivera, Larry Harlow, AfroCubism, Isaac Delgado, Jimmy Haslip, Jonatha Brooke, Raul Midón, and Israel "Cachao" López, to name a few. Two productions Alvear has taken part in have been nominated to the Grammys including Paquito D'Rivera's Paquito D'Rivera Presents: Las Hermanas Marquez and Gonzalo Grau's Frutero Moderno.
Alex Alvear & Mango Blue have performed extensively in concert halls, festivals, and clubs nationally and internationally. Some of these include CAPA's New Haven Jazz Festival, (sharing the stage with Dee Dee Bridgewater), Severance Hall (Cleveland), The Savannah Onstage Festival, Blue Frog (Mumbai, India), Teatro Nacional Sucre y Plataforma del MAAC (Ecuador), New York's S.O.B.s, Makor, Village Underground, and The Nuyorican Poets Cafe, the Berklee BeanTown Jazz Festival, Portland's Festival of Cultural Exchange, and Boston Symphony Hall's World Music Series.