Sonido Isleño

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Sonido Isleño or "Island Sound" celebrates the rich and different sounds and musical traditions one encounters on the island of New York.

Since its inception in 1996, this exciting combination of musicians has performed to the delight of audiences throughout the United States, Europe, and on national television as guests on CBS' The Early Show with Bryant Gumbel.

The band was also featured prominently in the commercial for TNN's James Bond Marathon in 2002. Critics and radio programmers around the world have raved about this unique group of individually talented musicians with a unified concept for toe-tapping and body-shaking music.

Led by Benjamin Lapidus, the group presents an organic blend of traditional Puerto Rican, Dominican, and Cuban music with jazz and contemporary rhythm and blues. These ingredients blend together to create a danceable, intelligent, improvisation-based music which never loses "el sabor latino."

Bandmembers:

A native of New York, Felix Sanabria has been performing and recording for over twenty years with such renowned artists as Celia Cruz, Grupo Afrocuba de Matanzas, Lazaro Ros, Eddie Palmieri, Tanya Leon, Puntilla y su Nueva Generacion, and Michelle Rosewoman’s New Yoruba, among others. Audiences throughout the U.S., Latin America and Europe have been thrilled by this master of Afro-Caribbean folklore whenever he plays his congas and batá drums.

Hector Torres was born in San German, Puerto Rico and grew up in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood. He began playing percussion at the age of four and received his tutelage from family members who played strings, percussion and sang. From this rich experience he has gone on to play timbales with Ray Barretto, Sunrise, Orquesta Novedades, Conjunto Mayombe, Chico Alvarez, Grupo Caché, Conjunto Naborí, José Fajardo, The Moonrats, Rey Saba, Charanga Creación, Fuego ‘77, and Orquesta La Sorpresa, among many others.

Benjamin Lapidus brings his guitar, Cuban tres, and Puerto Rican cuatro to the group as well as his experience performing with many of the top names in both jazz and Latin music. Recent highlights include performances and recordings with Paquito D'Rivera, Humberto Ramírez, Ralph Irizarry, Juan Pablo Torres and members of the Buena Vista Social Club, Chico Alvarez, Alfredo “Chocolate” Armenteros, José Fajardo, Larry Harlow "El Judío Maravilloso," Bobby Sanabria, The New York Ska-Jazz Ensemble, Los Afortunados, Grupo Caché, Alex Torres and other artists in New York and Puerto Rico. A graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Ben earned his Ph.D. in Music at the CUNY Graduate Center in May, 2002. He has worked with jazz masters Brian Lynch, Larry Goldings, and Joe McPhee and performed at jazz festivals in France, Germany, Greece, and Italy.

Bassist Frank Cotto was born in Cidras, Puerto Rico and moved to New York City at the age of eight. After finishing high school at the prestigious Music and Art magnet school, he went on to study music at the world renowned New School. Frank was a founding member of The Authority and has worked with Arnie Lawrence, Bernard Purdie and Lew Soloff. He leads Vaya with Frank Ocasio.