If truth be told, all the musical saints in the big sky came down to earth while serenading the wowed crowd with this gifted band. - Misty Brown (Washington Informer, November 2004)

Indeed, this is a group of very "hot guys," returning to the Dakota for two nights (November 14-15) where they have wowed sold-out crowds a number of times in the past. From the heart of New Orleans, Los Hombres meshes the street rhythms of Congo Square with montuno and clavé. Their self-titled debut CD ( 1998, Basin Street Records) hit the Top 25 on Billboard's jazz chart in 1999; they received Billboard's Latin Music Award for Contemporary Latin Jazz Album of the Year in 2000, and were named by Down Beat as "Talent Deserving Wider Recognition." "Whether they are playing jazz, samba, mambo, tango, songo, yuka, or whatever, Los Hombres Calientes are...on a quest to bring the musical world together" (Anthony R. Fox, liner notes, Los Hombres Calientes Volume 2).

The driving forces behind Los Hombres are young trumpet king Irvin Mayfield and veteran percussionist Bill Summers, who in 1998 joined with drummer Jason Marsalis to bring to life their vision of a New Orleans-based, Latin jazz ensemble, a band that would play "caliente" (hot), exploring African and Afro-based rhythms (what Summers calls "African classical music"), fused with acoustic modern jazz. Says Mayfield, "Playing modern jazz, you work on the head of the tune and you work on the form. Once you have the form, it's just a vehicle for improvisation. But when you start having the influence of Latin music and African rhythms, like the Bata drums and the stuff from Brazil, the heads are so intricate that they're harder than the solo parts. So this way of thinking about it is just completely new and fresh." Marsalis has since gone on to other projects, but Mayfield and Summers have continued their explorations, expanding the band's repertoire to include the native rhythms of the African Diaspora, particularly incorporating the music and musicians of Trinidad, Haiti, The Dominican Republic, Cuba, and Brazil. Says Mayfield, "Jazz allows us - gives us - the platform to bring these other musics into play...It's the manifestation of democracy into music."

As hot as their name, Los Hombres Calientes came together like spontaneous combustion at a gig at Snug Harbor in New Orleans, and quickly found themselves booked into other venues including the House of Blues and Tipitina's. Within a few months, they released their first recording on the new indie label, Basin Street Records, and became the hit of the 1998 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. The firestorm spread nationally and globally. Los Hombres now have four recordings with a fifth due to be released this winter. Their current touring septet includes trumpeter Leon "Kid Chocolate" Brown, trombonist Stephen Walker, bassist David Pulphus, pianist Victor "Red" Atkins, and newcomer, drummer Jamal Batiste, in addition to bandleaders Mayfield and Summers.

Irwin Mayfield, still in his late 20s, was born and raised in New Orleans, where he had his first opportunities to play jazz with the Algiers Brass Band. At about age 14, he started to get serious about music, playing with school bands that took him on tours around the world. In addition to formal music education in school, much of his growth was due to his interactions with older musicians on the city scene and listening to the great trumpeters, from Louis Armstrong and Miles Davis, to Clifford Brown, Freddie Hubbard, Dizzy Gillespie, and Booker Little. He also cites the influences of Charles Mingus and Phineas Newborn, and contemporary masters, mentor Wynton Marsalis, Terrence Blanchard, Nicholas Payton, and Brad Mehldau.

In addition to his heavy performance schedule as a soloist and with Los Hombres, Mayfield serves as the executive director and founder of Dillard University's Institute of Jazz Culture and as the founder and leader of the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra. Recently, he was named the International Cultural Ambassador for the city of New Orleans and the state of Louisiana to promote cultural exchange with communities around the world. One of his special projects in the past year has been the recording of the Half Past Autumn Suite with Gordon Parks, a pianist better known as a photographer and filmmaker, whose images inspired Mayfield's compositions. Notes Eugene Holley, Jr. (Amazon.com), "Mayfield's tone is as bold and bright as his future."

Percussionist/vocalist Bill Summers grew up in Detroit, but spent summers visiting Louisiana, finally moving to New Orleans in 1993 where he runs the Summers Multi-Ethnic Institute of the Arts, a non-profit education center. Best known for his work with Herbie Hancock's Headhunters, as well as stints with Quincy Jones and leading his own funk band, Summers' Heat, he has also worked as a musical director for theater and has studied and written about Yoruba culture. As the elder leader of Los Hombres (in his mid 50s), Summers often assumes a mentoring role in the band, and has also handled recording projects, including Los Hombres' first release in 1998. "Bill is one of the greatest percussionists in the history of American percussion, and has been [described as], arguably, the most effluent percussionist in American jazz," says Mayfield.

Los Hombres Calientes' new recording, Carnival, is due for release in January, and will be "the most adventurous recording we've ever done.... A lot of artists say that, but this album really is - by light years - our best," with better band chemistry and deeper explorations of the Afro-Latin roots of music, says Mayfield. And this chemistry and authenticity, this "caliente" gumbo, is what we can expect when Los Hombres return to the Dakota.

For ticket information and reservations, visit www.dakotacooks.com or call (612) 332-1010. For more information on Los Hombres Calientes, visit www.irvinmayfield.com or www.basinstreetrecords.com)