Latin Jazz Now!

Join host Jim Benitez as he launches your weekend in the company of the finest and most powerful Latin Jazz musicians in the world.

Latin-influenced jazz is characterized by Latin dance rhythms combined with jazz melodies and chord progressions as heard in American jazz standards.

Pioneering bandleaders who infused the Latin element into their bands were Dizzy Gillespie and Stan Kenton. Other musicians who incorporate Latin elements into their music include drummers Airto Moreira, Antonio Sanchez, and Horacio Hernandez,  percussionists Alex Acuña, Richie Flores, Giovanni Hidalgo, Paoli Mejias, Mongo Santamaria, Tito Puente and Poncho Sanchez,  trumpeters Arturo Sandoval, Brian Lynch, and Humberto Ramirez, pianists Eddie Palmieri, Rebeca Mauleon, and Tony Perez, bandleader Mario Bauza, trombonist Steve Turré, Juan Pablo Torres, and Papo Vazquez, and saxophonists Paquito D’Rivera, David Sanchez, and Miguel Zenon. All of which and many others you’ll enjoy on “Latin Jazz Now”.