John Santos Sextet at The Freight

John Santos Sextet
The Freight
The African Roots of Jazz Latino
Berkeley, CA
March 1, 2026

Percussionist and composer John Santos is no stranger to concert halls in the Bay Area and beyond. He is known not only for his musical ensembles (such as Orquesta Batachanga and the Machete Ensemble) but also for his decades of employing his encyclopedic knowledge to teach classes concerning the roots and history of salsa music.

Tonight's concert at The Freight was a very special event because it focused on African influences on Latin jazz music. For this, Santos had invited five special guests to participate to supplement his usual ensemble. But, before things got underway, Santos shared a special message regarding the night's theme:

"This concert is about love with all the inhumanity and racism in the world, particularly from our current so-called leaders. It's especially urgent to have each other's backs and to come together like this face to face. 

"Despite the great efforts to divide us and label us as extremists, radical extremists for wanting to come together and for speaking up for justice while truth-telling is under attack, music has always been our refuge, our sacred place, our homage to our ancestors, our history, and our reality in our own voices, in our quest for dignity, justice, and equity. African music on the continent and in the diaspora is music of resistance. The same is true of all its offshoots such as jazz, rumba, bomba, samba, R&B, salsa, funk, hip hop, etc. Yes, this is the spirit in which we present tonight's historic collaboration."

After giving thanks to The Freight for hosting the event, Santos moved on with the concert. The evening's first tune was "Itim" ("black" in Tagalog) by Santos's longtime associate, flautist and bandleader John Calloway. "The first piece we're going to play is an original composition of John's. And it represents his Afro-Filipino roots. His grandfather, Sergeant John W. Calloway}, whom he's named after, was a Buffalo Soldier during the War of Independence against Spain back in the 1890s. And John wrote this piece for him. We recorded it about 30 years ago with the ensemble. We're going to dust it off right now." The lovely tune, part of his "Buffalo Soldiers in the Philippine-American War: A Crisis of Conscience" multimedia project, highlighted Calloway's flute while also featuring the alto sax of Charlie Gurke.

For the next number, Santos introduced Chicago-native Mr. Baba Moshi. "Alabi Oyón" was inspired by and dedicated to the Yoruba, which Santos first recorded at Bay Records, a studio on Alcatraz Avenue, in 2007. The irresistibly rhythmic piece, arranged around the concept of the John Coltrane composition "Equinox," had Moshi on chek and Santos on checkere, while featuring the dynamic bass of Saul Serra.

For the famous Afro-Cuban lullaby "Drume Negrita," originally composed by blind Cuban pianist Eliseo Grenet Machete, Santos recruited Kiazi Malonga, the son of legendary Congolese dancer and activist Malonga Casquelourd. The senior Casquelourd met an untimely demise when a speeding car, traveling in the wrong direction on an Oakland street, killed him in 2003. He was returning home from his niece's graduation party. The Alice Arts Center, whose funding Casquelourd had successfully battled to preserve, has been renamed after him. In addition to Malonga's rapid-fire drum solo on djembe, the piece featured the piano of Marco Diaz and lyrical flute from Calloway.

Diaz began "Brazos," which featured a spoken word invocation calling for open minds, flute, and rapid-fire hand drumming. "Free at Last," which followed, featured bongo, along with trumpet, piano, and djembe. Arranged by Calloway, the meditative ballad—which turned hard-charging and then meditative once more—had the arranger on flute, accompanied by percussive effects from Santos. 

The second set commenced with the hard-charging "Eshú Laroy," which featured Diaz on trumpet and alto from Gurke. "Sangre Africana" from the album Horizontes (Machete, 2025) featured oration from Nakiba Pittman, along with a trumpet solo from Diaz.

The show continued with "Oba Lube," which offered güiro—along with flute, bass, and piano—before culminating in "Mr. Stallings," a pure blast of energy that soon turned reflective. Bursts of tenor sax competed with driving percussion and trumpet. Two hours after they had begun, all took a bow. Calls of "otro" failed to bring them back. 

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