Breaking far and away from the “Latin” stereotype, Jose Conde has made 3 exciting and different, widely acclaimed albums that are globally eclectic, lyrically eccentric, unpredictable, and funky! His recently released first solo album reached #3 on the CMJ New World chart and stayed 10 weeks in the Top 5. With diverse influences and colors from South Africa to Brazil to Peru, and rootsy rhythms and humor undeniably and soulfully Cuban, yet uniquely Conde, the eponymous record is a significant departure evolved from his previous two, award winning, and much licensed cds under the guise of Jose Conde y Ola Fresca: the 2008 Independent Music Awards Best Latin Album REVOLUCION (Mr Bongo UK 2007), and AY! QUE RICO (PIPIKI RECORDS 2004).

Jose Conde is from Miami, via Chicago, by way of Cuba. It’s called being an immigrant, or in his case, the son of immigrants, and it makes for the tastiest of stews.

Conde says, “Growing up in South Florida I came into daily contact with the mix of sounds—son, funk, rock, rumba, rock, Haitian compas, cumbia from Colombia, guaracha from Cuba, samba from Brazil… a wealth of sounds, tastes, and flavors. This rich blend has inspired Conde and has informs his music. Seen as a whole, his body of work emerges to show the glow of this richness and diversity, along with it’s experimental spirit and exuberance.

“Miami is a multicultural mecca and my early influences before pursuing music include the tropical heat, the pervasiveness of water everywhere, and the serenity of the daily masterpiece: the south Florida sky, sunrise to sunset. My vocabulary of music comes not just from listening to other musicians. It comes from how my mother scolded me with mambo sensibility or how a sexy girl walks so rhythmically—a slow funk twitch—or how you pull up to a counter and order “un cafesito por favor!” It’s the feeling of a light breeze on your sun-drenched skin and the rolling murmur of the waves… This is all music and is what I listened to and observed unconsciously growing up.”

Conde’s early musical studies took him through forays into classical, opera, jazz, electronic dance, and rock. After studies at Berklee School of Music, he started on a clear path towards Cuban and world roots exploring rhythms, phrasing arranging composition and dance.

In the late 90’s Conde relocated to New York and founded Ola Fresca and began gigging constantly right from the beginning. He soon released an EP of obscure Cuban songs (Esencia, 2001). Soon after this was followed by his first LP of original songs. Rooted in Cuban traditional rhythms, Ay! Que Rico (2004) was released to great international acclaim on Conde’s own PIPIKI Records label. The cd was licensed by PIMIENTA/UNIVERSAL for much wider distribution in 2005 as “AY! QUE RICO…seconds” and received a significant amount of airplay on North American public, college and Jazz stations.

Conde has always been attracted to the sounds and meanings of words. His love of poetry, prose, and semantic tone drew him to Whitman, Marti, Sting, as well as the rumba poetry of Cuban poet Nicolas Guillen, and the lyrical acrobatics of Cuban troubadour Pedro Luis Ferrer. Many of his compositions play with language and rhythm in their lyrics and musical phrasing. This is very evident in the next batch of songs that came out under the album titled (R)evolucion in 2007.

(R)evolucion was produced by Grammy winning producer Aaron Levinson and was recorded at Andy Taub's epic BROOKLYN RECORDING STUDIO. It highlighted Conde’s songs and skills as an arranger and brought together arguably one of most unexpected mixes of great musicians ever to record on a Latin record, including New Orlean’s legendary funk drummer, The Meter’s Ziggy “Zigaboo” Modeliste, Beny More’s former Musical Director, the great Cuban Trombone player Generoso Jimenez, and Salsa Dura superhero trombone player Jimmy Bosch. The special guests were buoyed by a Conde’s great Ola Fresca band, re-vamped for more sonic muscle from his previous recording and including the great grooving Cuban bass player Jorge Bringas, Afro Cuban master Roman Diaz on Congas, the amazing Pablo Vergara on Steinway piano and Hammond B-3, super guitar player Juancho Herrera, young fiery Cuban Timbalero Marvin Diz, an amazing horn section led by the great Steve Gluzband and the rest of the great band. The record went on to win BEST LATIN RECORD in the 2008 Independent Music Awards and received glowing reviews worldwide. JCyOF toured and played many great venues including Santa Monica Pier, Montreal Jazzfest, New Orleans Jazzfest, Boca del Rio Festival Mexico, Jazz Café San Jose, Costa Rica etc.

The most recent album was a significant departure from the previous two for Conde. He stripped down the sound of the band and focused it on the rhythm section and the sonic impact instead of the horns or arrangements. This more song based approach allowed Conde to record and mix most of the album at his home studio in Brooklyn. He produced and mixed the record and played many of the instruments including Bass on several tracks, guitars, keyboards, percussion, and many vocal parts. But there were many great collaborators on JOSE CONDE self titled including Gintas Janusonis on drums, Pablo Vergara on keyboards, Baye Kouyate on Malian talking drum, Yayo Serka on Cajon, and Sweetcane on Electric guitar. As mentioned before here, the record has had a great international reception and reached #3 on the New World CMJ chart. Additionally, Amor y Felicidad was recently licensed as the title track in the feature independent film by award wining Australian director Macdara Vallely. “Losing It”. Conde and his band recently headlined the New Haven Arts and Ideas Festival and were features at Ottawa Bluesfest, BAM in Brooklyn, New Mexico State University amongst other venues.