A “Once in a Lifetime opportunity” to express my passion for Big Band Mambo from the Palladium days





Carlos Mena is very hard to pin down.   Everyone wants him!!!!!!!!!!     But this time it was easy, just get 16 Brass players, a full scale salsa band with famous names, and Mambo charts from the old days and invite him to join us with his world renown chops.  

“When John told me about this, I knew in a split second I would be rearranging my calendar to be at the three rehearsals and the show”, says Carlos.    People rarely go through all the logistics and organizing to get a big project like this off the ground.   “But John took the plunge and I couldnt let him down, its for a good cause, the cats on this gig are top-notch, oh and I frikin’ love the old Latin Big Band hits and a chance to play them is an intense rush!”, Carlos says. 

Print out your invitations for the Latin Big Band below:




Read about Carlos:

Born and raised in Quito-Ecuador, Carlos Mena is one of the rising stars in the New York City music scene, that has called for different projects involving Afro-Latin, Jazz, Pop music due to his flexibility and understanding of "time feel", harmony and soloing.
Mr. Mena's musical career includes performances with notable musical artists and shows, to name a few: with Antonio Hart, Don Omar, Willie Colón, Pedrito Martinez,  Michael Mossman, Julio Barreto (Gonzalo Rubalcaba’s drummer), Amik Guerra (Horacio “el Negro” Hernandez’s trumpeter), Youth Symphonic Orchestra of Zurich, The Musical “Saturday Night Fever” in Switzerland and Germany, Gene Jackson, John Ellis, Mayito Rivera (former singer for Los Van Van), John Davis, Andrew Atkinson, Cliff Korman, Jeb Patton and Sergio Sacoto..
Recipient of  Zurich Switzerland’s coveted Elsy Meyer
Carlos finished his bachelor in Music and Pedagogy at the (Hochschule der Kuenste) University of Arts in Zurich.
In 2010 got his Master in Music Performance at the Aaron Copland School of Music in New York City studying with Professors: Michael Mossman, Antonio Hart, David Berkman and Johannes Weidenmueller.



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