Arts & Entertainment

Rumba Club Brings Latin Groove to BlackRock

Latin jazz ensemble Rumba Club performs at BlackRock Center on Saturday, Sept. 24.

Rumba Club will bring their Latin jazz idiom to BlackRock Center for the Arts on Saturday, Sept. 24, where the band is booked for an 8 p.m. show.

The musicians of Baltimore-bred Rumba Club live and play throughout the East Coast. The group cut four albums for indie label Palmetto Records — “Radio Mundo” (2001) being the most recent — with production help from Fort Apache Band bassist Andy Gonzales.  

But it was Rumba Club’s second recording for Palmetto, “Mamacita” (1997), that reportedly put them on the radar. Though the album never charted on Billboard, "Mamacita" enjoyed airplay out west and in Puerto Rico and Miami, which caught the attention of jazz critics. An All Music Guide reviewer gave it “8 out of 10 shakes of the maraca,” and Jazz After Hours radio host Jim Wilke — whose show airs on National Public Radio and Public Radio International — placed "Mamacita" on his 1997 favorites list.

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The band still aspires to generate its own mix of jazz and instrumental Latin dance, which the musicians hope to convey at Saturday’s show. The concert is part of BlackRock’s season, in celebration of the theater’s 10th anniversary. Tickets to Rumba Club’s show cost $25-$28 and can be purchased by calling 240-912-1058 or by visiting www.blackrockcenter.org.

BlackRock’s season opens Saturday with a performance by Ravi Coltrane.

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