Over his four-decade career, trombonist Wayne Wallace has established himself as an exponent of Latin American jazz. He explores the traditional forms and styles and finds ways to arrange them with contemporary music. His last album with his Latin Jazz Quintet Intercambio was an engaging mix of different Latin and African rhythms with modern and standard jazz. Wallace expands the concept on his latest album Canto America, a collaboration with his quintet’s master percussionist Michael Spiro.
Canto America is an ambitious work featuring an array of percussionists, vocalists and the 35-piece La Orquesta Sinfonietta. It was inspired by numerous trips to Cuba where Wallace and Spiro witnessed musicians blending several traditions from Afro-Cuban folklore to classical music and blurring the lines between genres.
Wallace was born and raised in San Francisco. He currently teaches jazz at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in Bloomington. He joined Jazz Nightly for a discussion of the music on Canto America.