A colleague of mine, Dr. Mike Bogle invited my wife and I to give a presentation /musical performance to demonstrate various Latin music styles to the music students at Dallas College. The purpose of the event was to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15-October 15, which marks when most Spanish Speaking countries in the Americas gained independence from Spain)
Dr. Mike Bogle is an outstanding pianist, trombonist (classical, jazz, pop…. ) sings really well too, and is a noteworthy composer/arranger. In fact, he won a Grammy nomination when he was a student at the University of North Texas for his big band arrangement of Chic Corea’s “Got a Match”
The percussionist in the video is Efren Guzman, a drummer/percussionist from Mexico City who has performed with internationally known acts in classical, jazz, Latin and pop.
Both Mike and Efren are great musicians, without a doubt much better than me, but that’s why I love to work with them! I always try to play with musicians who are better than me. I find it the best way to grow and stay inspired.
I am posting this video here for a few reasons: to honor Hispanic Heritage Month, to encourage members here to play with others, preferable players that are at a higher level than themselves, and lastly to demonstrate an arranger keyboard used in conjunction with live musicians. Sure, It would have been way better to have a live bassist and additional live percussion, but this community college had a very small budget….
This is a one chord song which can pose an interesting challenge to improvise over. We demonstrated this song to the students to highlight how Afro-Caribbean influences have impacted not Latin music, but American musical styles such as jazz, blues, rock, R&B….
This was recorded with just a cell phone; we hope to have a better mixed recording soon….

I hope you enjoy my humble efforts, Efren’s Guzman’s tour de force in Afro-Latino syncopation, and Mike Bogle’s jazz meets Latin piano playing. By the way, the lady in the red dress is my wife, so watch your comments, especially Captain Russ- LOL.