The demolition of the Deauville Beach Resort in Miami Beach started Saturday morning, just days after the city issued the permit. According to a story in The Miami Herald, the Miami Design Preservation League, a Miami Beach preservation group, challenged the demolition order and an appeal is pending.

The Deauville opened in 1957 and had been closed since 2017. It was once a destination for dignitaries and stars, but it will forever be remembered for hosting a rare, extended stay by The Beatles, including a live performance for their second appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show ,in February 1964.

More recently, the Deauville had been home to the Arturo Sandoval Jazz Club (2006-2008) and the after-hours program of Snarky Puppy’s GroundUp Music Festival. In 2017, an evening included a performance by the immortal Derek Smalls, aka Harry Shearer, the pipe-smoking, cucumber-wielding bassist of the not-quite-great, sort-of-lamented British band Spinal Tap. Accompanied by a band band that, as I astutetly noted in my chronicle then, looked and sounded suspiciously like members of Snarky Puppy, Mr. Smalls revisited some of the Tap’s greatest hits, including “Break Like The Wind,” “Hellhole,” and “Sex Farm,” playing on the same stage The Beatles once appeared.

Or so I was told at the time. Sure. Why not? We like a good story.

Besides, if you live long enough in Miami Beach, you learn that the sublime and the ridiculous happen and live side by side here — impermanently, of course.

 

The Deauville a few weeks back, already fenced but still relatively intact. The iconic sign over the entrance was not on the rubble Saturday and according to one of the workers, it was saved and stored.

Chucho Valdés and Paquito D’Rivera, working on one more piece for the reunion recording, at Chucho’s home

After 42 years of distance and silences, old friends and bandmates Paquito D’Rivera and Chucho Valdés have reunited, recorded a new album, and are readying to perform together again.

“I’m so proud,” says alto saxophonist, clarinetist and composer D’Rivera in a conversation at Valdés’ house following the final rehearsal for the recording sessions in January. “My life couldn’t end without … ,” he begins, pausing a moment to gather himself. “Chucho,” he continues. “Chucho is part of my life. His father was a close friend of my father. [Our friendship] is something that comes from a long way back. The first song Chucho wrote that became famous was called ‘Indestructible.’ That’s our relationship: indestructible.”

Continue reading →

Alfredo Rodriguez with Gilmar Gomes, Pedrito Martinez, Michael Olivera, Munir Hossn, and Majela Herrera, last night at the North Beach Bandshell.

By his own account, Cuban pianist Alfredo Rodriguez hadn’t played in South Florida in about four years. So for his appearance at the Global Cuba Fest at the North Beach Bandshell last night, he expanded his trio calling on several long-time collaborators and had himself a concert — and a neighborhood party.

An outdoor event is not the best setting for subtleties, so, smartly, Rodriguez made the best of it in the show’s early moments. Backed chiefly by his working trio – Munir Hossn, bass, and guitar, Michael Olivera, drums — Rodriguez at times managed to turn the sold-out Bandshell into a music club. Then he showed his stylistic range moving smoothly from his meditative “Dawn,” and a post-bop reading of Consuelo Velazquez’ classic “Besame Mucho,” to a salute to Yemayá, the deity of the oceans in the Afro-Cuban religion best known as Santeria, and a spirited version of Ernesto Lecuona’s “Gitanerías, ” the latter two featuring percussionist and vocalist Pedrito Martínez.

Alfredo Rodriguez with Richard Bona, performing their duet “Raices.”

As the group on stage grew larger with new additions, the music also became more expansive (there was even a version of “Thriller,” Rodriguez’s salute to his champion, producer Quincy Jones), and the mood was unabashedly celebratory. Then bassist Richard Bona took the stage, lit the match, and a party broke out with singalongs and dancing.

After months of isolation, there are no complaints about an evening out in Miami Beach, with good music, a bunch of fellow music lovers, the right temperature, and a slight breeze from the ocean. Just count me as one who wants to hear more playing from Rodriguez in a listening room.

Global Cuba Fest continues with a concert next week featuring pianist and composer Jorge Luis Pacheco with singer Daymé Arocena, and a group including Ramses Rodríguez, drums, Yorgis Goiricelayam bass, and Otto Santana, percussion; and then saxophonist Carlos Averhoff Jr. with pianist Harold López-Nussa, trumpeter Brian Lynch, flutist Nestor Torres, singer Maggie Marquez, and guitarist Ahmed Barroso.

If you are in or around Miami next week you might want to check this out.

When: Saturday, March 12 at 8:00 p.m.

What: Jorge Luis Pacheco and Carlos Averhoff Jr. in concert

Where: Miami Dade County Auditorium (2901 W Flagler St., Miami, FL 33135)

Tickets: Ticketmaster; by phone (800) 745-3000 and at the Miami-Dade County Auditorium

Box Office, Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Cost: $40

+Info: http://www.FUNDarte.us | http://www.miamilightproject.com | http://www.miamidadecountyauditorium.org