Angels Camp, CA…Calaveras County Arts Council is proud to present the Mario Flores Latin Jazz Band, a quartet of Jazz musicians, plus special guests at 3 p.m. on Sunday, April 8, 2018. Mario Flores is a popular conga player who leads a band of musicians in steamy, vibrant soundscapes in the tradition of Tito Puente, Cal Tjader and Mongo Santamaria. Tropical jazz lights up the Bret Harte Theater. Band leader Mario Flores said listeners at the Latin Jazz concert on April 8 at the Bret Hart Theater should expect fireworks.

They’ll be playing standards, to be sure, but Flores promised that “you’re going to hear tunes that a lot of people have never heard before.”

Flores’s band, made up of four musicians—Flores on conga, Clinton Day on Bass, Mark Gee on Keyboards, and Michael Miller on percussion—plays the shimmering beats of Cuban Jazz and music in the tradition of Tito Puente, Cal Tjader and Mongo Santamaria,. “We play a lot of old school Latin Jazz,” Flores said, but they also play modern tunes, including music written and arranged by Gee.

Flores, who grew up in Modesto has deep roots in the Central Valley, where Latin Jazz was the background sound of his family. “I grew up on that music,” he said. “My father was a Jazz drummer. He collected vinyl. Musicians like Tito Puente and also Carlos Santana.”

Flores, who often plays with the Columbia College Jazz bands, said he’s bringing some special guests from the respected Tuolumne school music program. Rod Harris on saxophone and Johnny Valdes will be joining Flores’s band to add to the sound.

And he’s expecting some Jazz vocalists from Columbia as well, and although he can’t yet be specific, he said, “There will be some exciting vocal leads.”

The concert won’t be only Jazz. “There will be a wide variety of music,” Flores said. “Pop to Jazz to Latin to Rock. All melted into high energy.” But Jazz will be the focus. Dancing is encouraged.

“The band has been studying this kind of music for years. We play it because we love it. I never get tired of playing this kind of music.”

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The concert will be held on April 8, 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Dr. Elliott Smart Performing Arts Center at Bret Harte High School in Angels Camp, CA. Tickets are $25 adult/$10 under 18, and are available at Calaverasarts.org or 209/754-1774. Tickets will also be available at the door starting at 2:30 p.m.

There will be opportunity drawings for artwork at the concert.

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Tickets for the April 8 performance are available online at calaverasarts.org, 209/754-1774, at the office/gallery at 22 Main St. in San Andreas, and at the theatre box office starting at 2:30 pm the day of the concert. The Bret Harte Theatre is located at 323 Highway 49, Angels Camp, where there’s plenty of free parking and many designated handicapped seats.

Mario Flores Latin Jazz Band performance is part of the Ovations 2018 Performing Arts Series, a concert series presented by the Calaveras County Arts Council, a 36-year old non-profit organization, partially funded by the California Arts Council, a State agency.