VibraSÓN is the Bay Area's premiere salsa/Latin band playing both classic and contemporary songs that dancers and audiences both crave. The band was formed by Jake Jacobs, a Bay Area dance instructor and musician for over 20 years, the result of an idea in 2009 to bring a special kind of music to audiences here. The music is not obscure. In fact, it is very famous and was popularized many decades ago in the 1960s and 1970s by such great artists as Joe Cuba, Jimmy Sabater and New Swing Sextet, Grupo Latin Vibe when Boogaloo was making its way into the New York Latin scene. Is it cool? Yes, very - with a smaller configuration band featuring the alluring sounds of the vibraphone. Is it hot? Extremely, bringing forth the hot rhythms that make salsa irresistible! This is music for the ages that lives on and on. In fact, the New Swing Sextet had long since disbanded when they came together again from sheer demand to pick up their instruments in the mid 2000s, and now they perform for audiences nationwide. When VibraSÓN was formed, this great salsa music had already been popularized (once again, to a new generation) by DJs everywhere. Salsa dancers can't resist the hip sound and driving rhythms of the genre. And surprisingly, with so many great bands in the San Francisco area, there was no group bringing the music to audiences.
Enter Jake Jacobs, a long-time salsa dancer, teacher, and musician. His uncle was a famous Xylophonist back the day in Chicago and his father played piano since the age of 6. Jake has studied with some of the great percussionists in the Bay Area (including Louie Romero, Michael Spiro, Karl Perazzo, and Edgardo Cambon) and played with many of the local artists. About 5 years ago, he was yearning to hear the sound of vibes music live and so he brought together an accomplished team of Latin musicians to form the new band. Percussionists include Jake himself, along with Cuban-born Carlos Caro and Miguel Melgoza. Carlos Caro arrived in the Bay Area in 1996 and has played with just about every great artist ever since. He currently is conguero for Avance, a hard-driving salsa band led by Santana Band percussionist Karl Perazzo, and Caro released a CD in 2010 by his own band Vission Latina. Miguel Melgoza lived in the Bay Area and left for a time, but returned to join the ranks of many of the area bands already, including Borinquen and as a backup player for Perazzo in Avance. Melgoza also has released a CD of his own compositions recently. Marco Diaz has been playing piano (and trumpet) professionally since the age of 17 and has performed with many of the artists in the area, performing also with the great Israel "Cachao" Lopez before his death at a concert in San Francisco. Marco also just released an excellent CD entitled "Life Notes" available on CD Baby. Saúl Sierra-Alonso is on bass, and he studied at the Berklee School of Music. He has played with John Santos, Anthony Blea, and many others, including Marco and Carlos. The important vibes chair is occupied by Charlie Barreda, a percussionist, pianist, and vibraphonist who studied with the one and only Cal Tjader. Lead vocalist Luis Morales-Guidos cut his teeth singing with salsa band Avance for over 15 years, as well as Montuno Swing and R&B band Pop Fiction.
The band has also been joined by maestro Edgardo Cambon, who plays percussion and/or sings lead vocals in some of our shows. Other great vocalists that have joined the band in performances are Carlos Xavier, Jose “Manny” Martinez, Christelle Durandy, and Jeff Cordoba. After Miguel Melgoza returned to Arizona in April 2014, accomplished percussionist and Grammy(r) award-winning Christian Pepin came on board to sing and play percussion. Both Pepin and Carlos Caro also won a Grammy (r) recently for their work on the ground-breaking Bay Area-produced CD by Pacific Mambo Orquestra.
This amazing group of musicians brings over 135 years of musical experience together to revive the sound of our great music and make VibraSÓN an experience to remember. Dancers and listeners alike will enjoy every moment...
VibraSON released their Debut CD “Llego VibraSÓN!” in 2019 to rave reviews, and more information can be found on the CD(2019) page. Check out their other releases as well, including re-mixes of their CD and some live recordings from Latin Vibe Tuesdays in San Francisco.