Six Degrees of Separation....?

According to this popular theory, every one knows every one else via a half dozen or so intermediaries and as the plane taxied down the runway heading back to New York from Helsinki, Finland,  the outline for this article began to take shape.

It all began with a trip to Helsinki, Finland... Having previously experienced the Artic chill that sweeps across this country, I had no clue what to expect as I boarded the plane in the early spring, destination Helsinki.  My last visit was for a New Years Celebration and I will confess, it was so cold that I went out to smoke, only to experience a new dimension in freezing, one that made me come to regard last years top memory of freezing my ass off while waiting for a cab in the city, as a warm memory.  But being from Nueva York (NYC) I was not going to let that memory of the cold guide me.  On this trip I was excited about meeting my new niece Lilja Solveig Irizarry (yep, Boricuas in Finland) and spending time with family.

Now you know,  that whenever two Puerto Ricans get together, a party is not far away, WEPA!!! and after the ceremonies and familial festivities, we were headed downtown to checkout the night life.  In case you aren't aware,  people of Spanish Origin (yeah I know the fashionable word is Latino) are very social creatures, and regardless of the language (Spanish, Portuguese, Finnish, English), when we are in the zone, get ready to party, dance, banter and overall have a great time. Oh yeah, and if you are just a bystander and not twisted with a legacy mindset  you too may be a beneficiary of this.

So here's how it went.. Gathered at Helsinki's Teatteri night club, after a few phone calls where Neff Irizarry (Latin Jazz Guitaist), Eduardo De Jesus of Brazilian Aeroplane (Lite Latin/Brazilian Jazz), and of course yours truly. A couple of beers, beautiful women lurking trying to get a peek and to celebrate my arrival a good cigar (La Gloria Cubana) what more could I ask for? A story? Well I asked one question, what differentiates Latin Jazz from Salsa? As I anticipated this launched a heated debate over the origins, names were tossed back and forth Cal Tjader, Mongo Santamaria and on and on.. In an effort to get back to the much needed R&R, I conceded and rephrased the question " what can we at enbreve.com tell the general public in a one line blurp? The answer settled on was, Salsa has Words and Latin Jazz doesn't, not satisfied with the answer I let it go and they proceeded on bringing me up to date.  

Neff was getting ready to start his tour with a CD release party, and we at enbreve.com were the sponsors of that tour, Eduardo had a new video which was scheduled to be broadcasted on Finnish TV, all during this time we were interrupted by pretty girls wanting to chat with Eduardo, the crowd gathered at our table grew, and before we realized it we had a small crowd listening to our ramblings and carrying on.

The conversation somehow migrated back to the Latin Jazz theme and it was decided to locate Tomas Jimeno as he would be able to give us another view point. As so the search for Jimeno began...  In part II of this saga, we share our discussion with the Latin Jazz percussionist and Maestro.

John Irizarry/Jazz Enbreve

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