Felix Contreras
Felix Contreras is co-creator and host of Alt.Latino, NPR's pioneering radio show and podcast celebrating Latin music and culture since 2010.
In addition to his post behind the mic, Contreras programs music from the Latin diaspora for the acclaimed Tiny Desk concerts and hosts a weekly Instagram Live interview with a wide-ranging roster of guests.
A knowledgeable international ambassador for Latino heritage and arts, "Tio Felix '' travels extensively in search of new talent and new music and captures important legacy performers in jazz and Latin genres. Various national and international publications have quoted his expertise on the contemporary influences of Latin culture, music, and media.
His a recovering TV journalist whose first post at NPR in 2001 was as a Producer/Reporter for the NPR News Arts Desk. He is also NPR's resident Deadhead and performs around the DC area with his Latin music Beatles cover band, Los Day Trippers.
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Jazz musicians have long mined Broadway, the Great American Songbook, and even pop music for material. Here are five Latin interpretations of songs written by jazz musicians, a process that isn't as easy as playing the chords of a jazz composition over a mambo rhythm. -
Though you may not know him by name, you certainly know his work: Mitchell produced a string of hits by Al Green in the early to mid-1970s. -
Americans are increasingly using hand-held devices to access the Internet and for texting, sending e-mails, playing music and instant messaging. A large number of those hyperusers are young Latinos and blacks, who crave the convenience of staying connected wherever they go.
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Americans are increasingly using hand-held devices to access the Internet and for texting, sending e-mails, playing music and instant messaging. A large number of those hyperusers are young Latinos and blacks, who crave the convenience of staying connected wherever they go.
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Much of today's best Latin jazz embraces old traditions to create something new. NPR Producer Felix Contreras spotlights five female singers whose sounds borrow equally from Latin music and jazz. -
Actor David Carradine was found dead Thursday in a Bangkok, Thailand, hotel room. The actor was best known for his leading role in the 1970s television series Kung Fu. Carradine was in Thailand shooting a movie, one of well over a 100 filmed during a long, eclectic career.
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Want a great conversation-starter with a fan of Latin jazz? Ask, "What's your favorite pairing of conga and timbales?" Many long-standing percussion duos display seemingly telepathic interplay — the intensity of a runaway train mixed with the kind of swing that makes hips move by themselves. Picking five was a chore, but here they are. -
Fans and detractors of jazz fusion cite Miles Davis as the one who led the way to a new direction in jazz in the late 1960s and early '70s. The sessions for In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew not only bred a new style, but also helped identify the pioneers who would help define rock-influenced jazz. Hear five classic examples.
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Bolstered by gatherings such as the Smithsonian Institution's "Classical Native" series, American Indian composers are searching for a sound. The result is music in the spirit of their ancestors mixed with techniques from Western classical music.
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As a staff producer at Columbia Records in the 1950s, Macero produced jazz albums by Charles Mingus, Thelonious Monk, and Dave Brubeck. But it was his work with trumpeter Miles Davis, especially in the late '60s, that earned him the most recognition.
