PURE MEZCLA (Tilford Productions) Mezcla’s February, 2015 release Recorded live at Yoshi's Jazz club in Oakland, California. The band threw down a special session with an emotional intensity that you just can't capture in a studio recording. Mezcla lives up to its name here - whether your bag is serious electric guitar, Monk or hard core Afro-Cuban folklore - Pure Mezcla will satisfy your cravings. The Mezcla lineup on this occasion features Pablo Menéndez on guitar and vocals; rhythm maestro Octavio Rodríguez on drums, percussion and vocals; famed musician Roberto Smith “El Capitán on drums, percussion and vocals; Julio Valdés on violin, keyboards and vocals; and José Hermida on bass. Pure Mezcla was recorded, mixed and mastered by two of the best engineers in the business of Latin music - Oscar Autie of El Cerrito Studios (recording and mix) and Michael Lazarus of Latin Music Mastering (mastering), both of whom have engineered multiple GRAMMY-nominated (Oscar) and winning (Michael) recordings. more info I’ll SEE YOU IN C.U.B.A. (Zoho) Mezcla’s January, 2010 release featuring guest musicians like Samuel Formell (of the incredible “Los Van Van”), Alejandro Vargas and others, as well as formidable mainstays like saxophonist Orlando Sanchez, the multi-instrumentalist Magela Herrera, percussion master Octavio Rodriguez, the great trap drummers who share the chair and father son bass players Ernesto and Jose Hermida, this is a fierce group of musical entities that must be acknowledged. They may not be household names in the United States, but they’re certainly capable of holding their own in such company. more info HAVANA BLUES MAMBO (Zoho) Pablo “Mezcla” Menendez in a solo project featuring guests Miguel Miranda, Rafael Paseiro, Jose Hermida and others. Includes original Latin jazz compositions by Menendez such as “Grifo”, “Hijos de la Mezcla” and Bonnie’s Blues Mambo and his arrangement of the Afro Cuban chant “Akete Oba Oba”. more info ¡AKIMBA! (Khaeon) Recorded live at the famous “La Zorra y el Cuervo” Jazz Club in Havana, Mezcla displays a spectacular breadth of musical styles and influences, from the classic Danzón Buena Vista Social Club and Charlie Parker's bebop evergreen Donna Lee to the funky Yoruba-Cuban chants of Hijos de la Mezcla and the fiercely percussive African fusion sounds of the title track Akimba! more info LAS PUERTAS ESTAN ABIERTAS A release from 1999. Besides more of Mezcla's dance book, it has guest appearances by singers Pedro Calvo of Los Van Van and Coco Freeman of N.G.; Female Rap group Instinto and Cuban jazz master Yosvany Terry. Purchase ¡ROCASON! This limited edition 1997 CD by Mezcla brings yet another level of exploration and creative blending of the Cuban roots with rock, reggae, soul, salsa and rap. Two of Mezcla's blues en español are included as well as What Keeps Us Apart ?, a reggae ballad in English dealing with US-Cuba relations. Purchase CANTOS: LÁZARO ROS CON MEZCLA (Intuition Records) Hot, danceable arrangements of sacred Santería chants blended with reggae, Afro-pop and salsa. Features master akpuón, Lázaro Ros, one of Cuba's foremost singers of Afro-Cuban Yoruba hymns. The nine-page booklet explains the Yoruba tradition in Cuba and translates the chants into English. more info JUST RE-RELEASED & AVAILABLE AT LIVE SHOWS FRONTERAS DE SUEÑOS (Intuition Records) A dream of a world without borders... Afro Cuban rhythms and jammin' to a pan-Caribbean beat. The tropical lyrics reflect a fresh more critical trend in the Cuban Nueva Trova tradition. Includes hits La Guagua, Río Quibí, and La Mulata de Caramelo. SOMOS HIJOS DE LA MEZCLA (EGREM) Includes hits such as Nacimos del Fuego and Aquí Cualquiera Tiene which became virtual anthems for Cuban youth in the late 1980's. Keeps 'um rockin' and thinkin'! MEZCLA also appears on these compilations: • CUBA CLASSICS 3: DIABLO AL INFIERNO  (Warner Bros, Luaka Bop, 1995) • SELECCIÓN DE EXITOS: NUEVA TROVA CUBANA  (Spartacus Discos, 1995)

PURE MEZCLA (Tilford Productions)

Mezcla’s February, 2015 release Recorded live at Yoshi's Jazz club in Oakland, California. The band threw down a special session with an emotional intensity that you just can't capture in a studio recording. Mezcla lives up to its name here - whether your bag is serious electric guitar, Monk or hard core Afro-Cuban folklore - Pure Mezcla will satisfy your cravings. The Mezcla lineup on this occasion features Pablo Menéndez on guitar and vocals; rhythm maestro Octavio Rodríguez on drums, percussion and vocals; famed musician Roberto Smith “El Capitán on drums, percussion and vocals; Julio Valdés on violin, keyboards and vocals; and José Hermida on bass. Pure Mezcla was recorded, mixed and mastered by two of the best engineers in the business of Latin music - Oscar Autie of El Cerrito Studios (recording and mix) and Michael Lazarus of Latin Music Mastering (mastering), both of whom have engineered multiple GRAMMY-nominated (Oscar) and winning (Michael) recordings. more info

I’ll SEE YOU IN C.U.B.A. (Zoho)

Mezcla’s January, 2010 release featuring guest musicians like Samuel Formell (of the incredible “Los Van Van”), Alejandro Vargas and others, as well as formidable mainstays like saxophonist Orlando Sanchez, the multi-instrumentalist Magela Herrera, percussion master Octavio Rodriguez, the great trap drummers who share the chair and father son bass players Ernesto and Jose Hermida, this is a fierce group of musical entities that must be acknowledged. They may not be household names in the United States, but they’re certainly capable of holding their own in such company.

more info

HAVANA BLUES MAMBO (Zoho)

Pablo “Mezcla” Menendez in a solo project featuring guests Miguel Miranda, Rafael Paseiro, Jose Hermida and others. Includes original Latin jazz compositions by Menendez such as “Grifo”, “Hijos de la Mezcla” and Bonnie’s Blues Mambo and his arrangement of the Afro Cuban chant “Akete Oba Oba”. more info

¡AKIMBA! (Khaeon)

Recorded live at the famous “La Zorra y el Cuervo” Jazz Club in Havana, Mezcla displays a spectacular breadth of musical styles and influences, from the classic Danzón Buena Vista Social Club and Charlie Parker's bebop evergreen Donna Lee to the funky Yoruba-Cuban chants of Hijos de la Mezcla and the fiercely percussive African fusion sounds of the title track Akimba!

more info

LAS PUERTAS ESTAN ABIERTAS

A release from 1999. Besides more of Mezcla's dance book, it has guest appearances by singers Pedro Calvo of Los Van Van and Coco Freeman of N.G.; Female Rap group Instinto and Cuban jazz master Yosvany Terry.

Purchase

¡ROCASON!

This limited edition 1997 CD by Mezcla brings yet another level of exploration and creative blending of the Cuban roots with rock, reggae, soul, salsa and rap. Two of Mezcla's blues en español are included as well as What Keeps Us Apart ?, a reggae ballad in English dealing with US-Cuba relations.

Purchase

CANTOS: LÁZARO ROS CON MEZCLA

(Intuition Records)

Hot, danceable arrangements of sacred Santería chants blended with reggae, Afro-pop and salsa. Features master akpuón, Lázaro Ros, one of Cuba's foremost singers of Afro-Cuban Yoruba hymns. The nine-page booklet explains the Yoruba tradition in Cuba and translates the chants into English.

more info JUST RE-RELEASED & AVAILABLE AT LIVE SHOWS

FRONTERAS DE SUEÑOS

(Intuition Records)

A dream of a world without borders... Afro Cuban rhythms and jammin' to a pan-Caribbean beat. The tropical lyrics reflect a fresh more critical trend in the Cuban Nueva Trova tradition. Includes hits La Guagua, Río Quibí, and La Mulata de Caramelo.

SOMOS HIJOS DE LA MEZCLA

(EGREM)

Includes hits such as Nacimos del Fuego and Aquí Cualquiera Tiene which became virtual anthems for Cuban youth in the late 1980's. Keeps 'um rockin' and thinkin'!

MEZCLA also appears on these compilations:

•CUBA CLASSICS 3: DIABLO AL INFIERNO
(Warner Bros, Luaka Bop, 1995)

•SELECCIÓN DE EXITOS: NUEVA TROVA CUBANA
(Spartacus Discos, 1995)

MEZCLA DISCOGRAPHY