The Wayne Wallace Latin Jazz Quintet

Some Latin Jazz artists that sustain long careers travel through bumps and detours during their lives, while others simply get better with age. This eventual outcome can’t be seen early - some artists hit their artistic stride at the beginning of their careers, while others take years to develop an artistic identity. Regardless of the quality in their early work, it’s the future paths that a musician travels that establish their legacy. Musicians simply can’t play the same thing through their lives and so a continuous musical output requires some searching and experimentation.

An astute artist makes changes to their musical approaches and incorporates new elements into their style, resulting in more interesting music. Other times, musicians back up into a more classic approach that contrasts their established style. As the artist moves forward, they either experience a jagged series of successes and failures or they consistently improve upon their given concepts. Both career paths supply a big chunk of the artist’s identity, and either direction can be workable. In reality though, the artist that simply continues to increase the quality of their work becomes an ideal musical figure with an enviable body of work that appeals to a wide public audience. Bay Area trombonist, composer, and arranger Wayne Wallace continues his assent into an untouchable level of quality, delivering an outstanding set of classic Latin Jazz with his Quintet on ¡Bien Bien!.