Events › Jazz Institute of Chicago presents: Latin Jazz: Many Stories, Many Voices Alejandro Salazar & Afro Cuban Exchange

The Jazz Institute of Chicago presents Alejandro Salazar & Afro Cuban Exchange! They will perform Latin jazz, celebrating musical traditions tied to Puerto Rico and the broader Latin American diaspora. Alejandro Salazar emphasizes love, peace, and unity to audiences through unique performances, education, and the cultural study of Afro-Cuban and Black-American Music. Chicago’s own rising star, Alejandro Salazar, is deeply rooted in the tradition, yet he likes to explore new ways to help people groove and dance more to his infectious swing feel. Salazar, a 2025 Luminarts Fellow, has had the pleasure of playing at clubs, venues, and festivals all over Chicago and the world like The Chicago Jazz Festival, Hyde Park Jazz Festival, Jazz a la Villette (Paris), Primavera Sound Barcelona, Munch Museum (Oslo), Bourse de Commerce (Paris), Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, The Jazz Showcase, Andy’s Jazz Club, DuSable Museum, The Green Mill, Constellation, and Dorian's to name a few.  Alejandro graduated from DePaul University, where he studied under world-class drummer and ethnomusicologist Dana Hall.

The Jazz Institute of Chicago (JIC) cultivates and contributes to the local Latin jazz scene through their Jazz Links education programs and numerous free performances around the city, including the Chicago Latin Jazz Festival. In this limited series, JIC-affiliated performers who both demonstrate some of the myriad traditions and advance the art of Latin Jazz will share their musicianship at a Chicago Public Library near you!

Accessibility

Need sign language interpretation or other accessibility assistance for this event? Please call (312) 747-8184 or email access@chipublib.org to request accommodations. Requests must be made at least 14 business days before the event.

This event is part of the 2025 One Book, One Chicago season, exploring the book Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalez.


 Photo credit: Jazz Institute of Chicago