Sun 29 May 2022

Gilles Peterson & Snowboy and The Latin Section

Music
Gilles Peterson & Snowboy and The Latin Section

GILLES PETERSON

Raised in South London by French/Swiss parents, radio jock, club DJ, and compiler Gilles Peterson grew up speaking French at home and English everywhere else. At 18, Peterson began DJing around London, ultimately spinning at the now-famous Dingwalls club in Camden. His sets covered the spectrum of urban music, from jazz to funk to soul and back to hip-hop. Out of this, Peterson co-founded the Acid Jazz label with some colleagues. The name itself was a joke between Northern soul fan Eddie Piller and Peterson, but it soon became the catch phrase for the smooth, funk-influenced jazz that became synonymous with major Acid Jazz artists like Brand New Heavies, Jamiroquai, and Mother Earth. 

 

SNOWBOY

There can be no denying that the pyrotechnic Snowboy And The Latin Section are Europe’s leading Afro Cuban Jazz group. From their debut release in 1985, they have released 16 albums and played concerts and festivals in over 22 countries, from Holland to Australia, from Japan to Scotland.

Snowboy has recorded or performed percussion with many, many Jazz and Latin artists such as Airto Moreira, Deodato, Makoto Kuriya, Herman Olivera, Flaco Jimenez, Jon Lucien, James Taylor Quartet, Big John Patton, and Incognito as well as Lisa Stansfield, Imelda May, Amy Winehouse, Rod Temperton, Mark Ronson, Basia, Simply Red, Mick Hucknall, Mica Paris, Darrel Higham, Patti Austin and many, many more. More importantly he is also the leader of his world - famous Afro-Cuban Jazz group, featuring a who’s-who of the UK’s most exciting and fiery Jazz and Latin players.

Their music draws on Salsa, Mambo and Latin Jazz, and captures the block party feel of 1970’s New York, inspired, as ever, by the greats such as Eddie Palmieri and Tito Puente. Their current album ‘New York Afternoon’ reached Number 1 in the Latin Jazz chart and Number 6 in the Jazz chart on Amazon, and was the Number 1 Salsa album on the Colombian radio station ‘Salsa Exitos Del Mundo’ for two weeks, plus continuous Jazz and Salsa radio play all over the world to date.