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Tiempo Libre

“Dance Music of Sophistication and Abandon” – The New York Times

“World Class Act…” – London Evening Standard

“So hot and danceable that even when you talk about the group, you find yourself moving your hips.” – Richmond Times Dispatch

“High-voltage, infectiously danceable Afro-Cuban rhythms with conservatory-bred classical chops.” - The Oregonian

Three-time Grammy-nominated Afro-Caribbean music group Tiempo Libre is one of the hottest Latin bands today. Equally at home in concert halls, jazz clubs, festival stages and dance venues, Tiempo Libre is celebrated for its sophisticated tropical music featuring an irresistible, exhilarating mix of jazz harmonies, contemporary sonorities and seductive Latin rhythms.

“The people in our audience are always a cultural mix. While our Spanish-speaking audience goes because they want to hear and feel Latin rhythms, we always have a lot of native English-speakers at our concerts. They appreciate this culture, this rhythm.” – Tiempo Libre founder and musical director Jorge Gómez

One thing is for sure: the members of Tiempo Libre are living the American Dream, playing their exhilarating, joyful music to packed houses. The members of Tiempo Libre grew up studying together in the classical music conservatories of Havana. Dreaming of freedom and opportunity, the seven musicians moved to the U.S., getting together in their “free time” (tiempo libre in Spanish) to play Cuban timba music - an irresistible and exuberant mix of jazz harmonies, contemporary sonorities and seductive salsa rhythms. Today, with worldwide concert tours and albums released by leading record companies, these world music troubadours feel lucky to have very little free time.

Tiempo Libre’s 2009 groundbreaking Sony Masterworks recording, Bach in Havana takes Bach as a starting point from which to explore a wide range of Cuban music forms and rhythms. The recrording features guest tracks with Yosvany Terry and Paquito D’Rivera and earned the group its third Grammy-nomination. It was described as “A landmark recording in the sense that Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue was approximately 50 years ago” by The Latin Jazz Network. Bach in Havana is a true reflection of the two worlds of Tiempo Libre’s Cuban musical upbringing. Tiempo Libre’s seven members led “double” lives studying classical music at Cuba’s premier Russian-style conservatories by day and by night meeting up to play the music of Cuba including timba, Latin jazz, and the rumba.

Tiempo Libre’s 2011 recording, My Secret Radio, pays homage to Tiempo Libre’s teenage years in Cuba, a time when the government forbade its citizens to listen to American music, and Russia pulled its support from the island. Inspired by their Afro-Cuban tradition, but eager to catch the new trends and sounds coming from the U.S., Tiempo Libre’s members would fashion homemade antennas to secretly listen at night to the music pulsating from Miami radio stations. These secret radio sessions fueled Tiempo Libre’s dreams of living in America, free to perform their songs and build the careers they wanted, while helping them gather the strength that it took to leave it all behind – families, friends, a country, a life – to pursue those dreams. My Secret Radio, and the inspiring story behind it, has been featured on Fox News’ Real American Stories, CNN en Español, PRI’s The World, and in Mother Jones and People En Español.

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Live Review

Freihofer’s Saratoga Jazz Festival

Read "Freihofer’s Saratoga Jazz Festival" reviewed by R.J. DeLuke


Freihofer's Saratoga Jazz Festival Saratoga Performing Arts Center Saratoga Springs, NY June 25 and 26, 2022 From the opening strains of the Dan Wilson Trio's first song, late Saturday morning at Freihofer's Saratoga Jazz Festival, there was a vibe set. The music was bliss. Not just because of its quality (though it certainly was fine) but because it signaled the return--the real return--of the festival to its old format. The sun shone and so did ...

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Album Review

Tiempo Libre: Panamericano

Read "Panamericano" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki


Panamericano is more than the title of the fifth release from Afro-Cuban maestros Tiempo Libre (which loosely translates into “Free Time"); after more than a decade of blending and polishing musical styles from Latin, South, and North America, it's a great description of the smooth sound they've found. Each tune seems to literally dance off the music written by pianist and co-founder Jorge Gómez, who composed or co-composed every song. Recorded music doesn't sound much more bright or ...

6
Catching Up With

Tiempo Libre: Back in Havana

Read "Tiempo Libre: Back in Havana" reviewed by Luellen Smiley


Sometimes an interview with a musician goes deeper than a narrative history of recordings, concert calendar and early training. That happened when I met Jorge Gómez; founder, keyboardist and musical director of Tiempo Libre, an all Cuban born Timba band. We met in a modest hotel room in Santa Fe, New Mexico where he and his six band members were invited to play for the third time at the Lensic Theater. It was steam-bath hot and muggy that Friday afternoon. ...

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Album Review

Tiempo Libre: Bach in Havana

Read "Bach in Havana" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki


This title provides a pun on the enclosed concept, through which Tiempo Libre, led by pianist and co-producer Jorge Gomez, connects the rhythms and melodies of Afro-Cuban and Latin jazz with the venerated melodies and harmonies of Johann Sebastian Bach. “What's interesting to me is that we revere Bach for his musical genius," explains Gomez. “But the fact that he was composing works for his contemporaries as a “popular" artist while also creating deeply religious compositions, and that he was ...

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Performance / Tour

AAJ Readers Get Discount on Tickets to Tiempo Libre in NYC December 10

AAJ Readers Get Discount on Tickets to Tiempo Libre in NYC December 10

Source: Chris M. Slawecki

AAJ readers can get special discount pricing for tickets to see Tiempo Libre when the band returns to New York City to perform in concert on December 10th.

Hot off its third Grammy nomination for “Best Tropical Latin Album" for Bach in Havana, the sizzling, dance-inducing Cuban music group Tiempo Libre will perform and generally throw one big Cuban party on Friday, December 10th at 8:00 p.m. in the Peter Jay Sharp Theatre at SymphonySpace (2537 Broadway at 95th St., ...

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Music Industry

Jazz This Week: Tiempo Libre, Eric Person, Musica Slesa, and More

Jazz This Week: Tiempo Libre, Eric Person, Musica Slesa, and More

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman

Once again, there's a varied selection of jazz and creative music on tap this weekend in St. Louis, and time is short, so let's go to the highlights:Tonight, there's a memorial for Blake Travis at the Sheldon Concert Hall, the first of two events this week honoring the late percussionist, singer and storyteller.Though Travis didn't usually work in the jazz idiom per se, he played with all sorts of St. Louis musicians over the course of ...

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Performance / Tour

Tiempo Libre to Perform in Miami Beach Saturday April 3

Tiempo Libre to Perform in Miami Beach Saturday April 3

Source: Michael Ricci

New Miami On Stage Series Continues With Tiempo Libre Performing Bach in Havana on Saturday April 3rd at the Byron Carlyle Theater

The new Miami On Stage project, which features local performing artists on a regular basis in Miami Beach's North Beach neighborhood, continues on Saturday, April 3 with the great timba band Tiempo Libre at the Byron Carlyle Theater. The evening features the Miami theatrical premiere performance of their Bach in Havana, a salsa meets Classical music mash-up based ...

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Video / DVD

STLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Spotlight on Tiempo Libre

STLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Spotlight on Tiempo Libre

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman

Today we train our video spotlight on Tiempo Libre, who are coming to St. Louis next Saturday, March 27 to perform at the Edison Theatre on the Washington University campus.The Miami-based group, which blends Latin jazz with traditional Cuban rhythms, is made up of seven musicians who received classical music training at Cuba's premiere conservatory, La ENA. Formed in 2001, Tiempo Libre has played major festivals, concerts and clubs all ...

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Performance / Tour

Tiempo Libre Performing at Dizzys at Lincoln Center on June 30th

Tiempo Libre Performing at Dizzys at Lincoln Center on June 30th

Source: All About Jazz

The sizzling, dance-inducing, two-time Grammy-nominated Cuban music group Tiempo Libre will perform at Dizzys Club Coca-Cola on Tuesday, June 30th at 7:30 p.m. & 9:30 p.m. Tickets are $30 and may be purchased by calling 212 258-9595 and online at www.jalc.org/dccc. Dizzy's is located in the Frederick P. Rose Hall, home of Jazz at Lincoln Center, 5th floor, 60th Street and Broadway.

Tiempo Libre's show is a dynamic, high-voltage and passionate performance of timba music - an exciting and engaging ...

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Performance / Tour

Jazz and Global Music Mix: Conga Kings with Tiempo Libre and John Patitucci, Rufus Reid and Danilo Prez at the Kimmel Center, May 8 and 9

Jazz and Global Music Mix: Conga Kings with Tiempo Libre and John Patitucci, Rufus Reid and Danilo Prez at the Kimmel Center, May 8 and 9

Source: Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts

The Kimmel Centers final weekend of jazz concerts for the 2008-09 season includes Miami-based, Cuban-born and internationally renowned artists bringing their own flair of global rhythms to jazz.

Click on the name of the artist below for more information on each Kimmel Center performance:

Jazz Fridays culminates with Conga Kings and Tiempo Libre performing polyrhythmic Latin jazz with Afro-Cuban influences in Verizon Hall (Friday, May 8, 2009 at 8pm)

Jazz Up Close concludes with bassists John Patitucci and Rufus Reid ...

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Recording

Sony BMG Masterworks Releases "O'Reilly Street" by James Galway & Tiempo Libre

Sony BMG Masterworks Releases "O'Reilly Street" by James Galway & Tiempo Libre

Source: All About Jazz

Sony BMG Masterworks announces the first recording in a new, exclusive partnership with the world's leading flute player, Sir James Galway - O'Reilly Street, available worldwide on September 16 2008. The album reflects an exciting collaboration between Galway and the hot, two-time Grammy-nominated Cuban music group, Tiempo Libre, acclaimed for its high-voltage timba music, an exuberant combination of Latin jazz and Cuban son. Typical of Galway's innovative approach to both his life and his career, O'Reilly Street has an unusual ...

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Recording

James Galway First Sony Classical Release with Tiempo Libre on September 16

James Galway First Sony Classical Release with Tiempo Libre on September 16

Source: All About Jazz

There's only one “Lord of the Flute," Sir James Galway. With countless awards and honors (including induction into The Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame in June) he has sold more than 30 million records and recorded over 60 CDs. As he approaches his 70th birthday, he is looking, as always, for new and innovative approaches to music and to life.

For his first recording for the Sony Classical label, scheduled for release on September 16, he will record music from ...

"Tiempo Libre is comprised of some of Miami’s heaviest Cuban-born, conservatory educated players, and the pedigree shines through easily. Tiempo Libre is what we’ve been waiting for." —All Music

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Panamericano

Universal Latin Music
2015

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Bach in Havana

Sony Music
2009

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Videos

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