Alfredo Rodriguez & Pedrito Martinez

Famed for his attacking, take-no-prisoners playing style, Cuban-born pianist and composer Alfredo Rodriguez has a back story that has become the stuff of legend: the kid who, without constant access to a piano, practiced on scales he’d painted on the family dinner table; who, aged 19, represented Cuba in the International Solo Piano Competition at the 2016 Montreux Jazz Festival, just happening to entertain a crowd that included Quincy Jones, who was so bowled over he encouraged his permanent relocation from embargoed Cuba to America. GRAMMY-nominated, the veteran of an NPR Tiny Desk concert, the recipient of critical praise including comparisons to early Bill Evans and Art Tatum, Rodriguez now sounds distinctively like himself.

Presented by La Jolla Music Society.