The Azucartones from Kent Denver School: It's the High School / Collegiate Series!

The Azucartones

Wait a second…there's a school in Colorado with an Afro-Cuban band? I thought music funding was being cut in schools?! You would think so, but the Azucartones is a young Afro-Cuban band based right here in Colorado. They are part of the Downbeat award-winning Commercial Music Program at the Kent Denver School. Playing the music of Celia Cruz, Tito Puente, Willie Colon, Fania All-Stars, and others, they pack the dance floor with an energetic live show.

Not just a group of kids, but a band of practiced student-musicians growing into professional musicians, the Azucartones have sold out Dazzle Jazz Club and have been featured on local radio station KGNU. The band is currently planning a trip to Cuba later this year. ­The group's musical director, Steve Holley, was able to travel to Cuba in 2011 in an effort to learn more about Cuban music education.

Manuel Meraz, one of the band's percussionists, was recently awarded a Jazz Education Network mentorship with Chicago-based percussionist Ruben Alvarez. This helps to give Manuel, and by extension the Azucartones, access to some of the best teachers of Cuban music in the country.

Learning from some of the best salsa musicians from Denver, throughout the US, and now the possibility of traveling to Cuba, the band hopes to grow into one of the best professional student salsa bands in the country, and to help raise the legitimacy of non-traditional music education in the country! Get on the dance floor and dance to the undeniable grooves of the Caribbean - ¡Azucar!

StudioClub members: Contact Arvida via e-mail or phone at 303-446-7631 to reserve your seats.

Thank you to our High School/Collegiate series sponsors: Flesher-Hinton Music, Black and Read, Kris Kunze Piano Tuning, Onofrio Piano Company, Drum City Guitarland, The Original Pasquini's and Denver Public Schools.