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Standout Latin/Urban/Funk Group Yerba Buena to Perform  

7:30 p.m. Friday, October 22, Potter Center

With a sound that's as diverse as the streets of New York City where they hail from, the Latin hip-hop funk band Yerba Buena will perform at the Jackson Community College Potter Center at 7:30 p.m. Friday, October 22. 

This 2003 Grammy-nominated group have rapidly gained a reputation for their tasteful musical fusion that has impressed audiences beyond the Latino community.  The ensemble is headed by Venezuelan-born multi-instrumentalist bandleader Andres Levin.  Levin's "Yerba Buena," - good herb - is a blend of African-rooted Latin music (Cuban rumba, Colombian cumbia, Pan-Caribbean solca, and Nuyorican boogaloo) with hip-hop, Motown soul, Nigerian Afrobeat and a dash of Middle Eastern themes played by an international crew of star musicians that represent the new sounds of the New York City streets. 

Putting his magic touch on a variety of music since he arrived in 1989 from his native Venezuela to become a "resident alien," Levin has written and/or produced for artists ranging from Chaka Khan and Tina Turner to David Byrne and Arto Lindsay. His most recent credits include D'Angelo, Macy Gray, Dead Prez, and Me'Shell Ndegeocello in his role as principal producer of the recent Red Hot + Riot Fela Kuti tribute (Top 10 in NY Times, Time, Rolling Stone & more). For the past few years, Levin has been in high demand throughout the fast-growing world of Latin alternative music. Like some of the great big bands of Cuba  (think Benny Moré or Machito), Levin set up Yerba Buena as an ongoing workshop open to collaborations in studio and on stage with guest stars. The result is a dazzling and ravishing live show and a studio recording that has a character all its own.

Havana's diva-in-waiting Xiomara Laugart, percussions maestro/Yoruban chanter Pedrito Martinez take turns leading their audiences into frenzied dancing. Distinctive singers CuCu Diamantes and El Chino along with the brilliant St. Thomas-born jazz saxophonist Ron Blake and young trumpeter Rashawn Ross complete the core group, infusing their stylistic blasts to the mix.

For Yerba's debut album, "President Alien" (Razor & Tie/Fun Machine), Levin invited friends he's been collaborating with for years from various musical scenes: singer/bassist Me'Shell Ndegeocello, Brazilian singer/songwriter/percussionist Carlinhos Brown, downtown guitarist Marc Ribot, keyboardist Money Mark, jazz trumpeter Roy Hargrove, Dead Prez rapper Sticman, bassist Sebastian Steinberg, and drummers Horacio "El Negro" Hernández and Terreon "Tank" Gully, among many others.

"President Alien" plays with the lyrical quality of the official status of permanent residents in the United States, what's scrolled across every legal immigrant's Green Card, "Resident Alien." It also captures Levin's vision perfectly, having fun with the notion of a global tribe gathering in the music capital of the world.

Tickets are available at the Potter Center Box Office, 796-8600, or online at www.jccmi.edu/CulturalEvents.  General admission tickets $15 for adults and $10 for students.