Joe McCarthy’s 18-Piece, New York Afro Bop Alliance Big Band Embarks on Its Second Annual Pan American Nutcracker Suite Holiday Tour

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For the second straight year, the innovative drummer, composer Joe McCarthy and his Latin Grammy award-winning New York Afro Bop Alliance Big Band (NYABABB) will crisscross the country to perform The Pan American Nutcracker Suite (PANS), their spirited and swinging Latin jazz reimagining of Pyotr IIyich Tchaikovsky's immortal 1892, eight-part ballet suite and Christmas classic, The Nutcracker, featuring Afro-Latin rhythms from the Americas and the Caribbean, released on the NYABABB's 2022 album also titled The Pan American Nutcracker Suite.

"Overall, last year's tour was highly successful, " McCarthy says. "It was a little over ambitious, as we also introduced a dance version and a visual presentation of the suite, which we are not doing this year. I'm hoping that more people have had a chance to absorb some of the music, and at the same time, I look forward to enlightening people that have not heard it. I think that what we've created is unique and very accessible, whether people are fans of jazz or pop."

The big band travels to Yale University at New Haven, CT on Friday, December 6, 7:30 pm to perform PANS, alternately with the traditional, classical arrangement of the suite, played by the Yale Concert Band, led by Thomas C. Duffy. On December 17 and 18, at 7:00 pm and 9:00 pm, the big band returns to Dizzy's Club at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City. McCarthy and company conclude their tour in California on December 22 at the Clark Center for the Performing Arts in Arroyo Grande, with the big band performing several Latin jazz classics, followed by a performance of the PANS, and at Yoshi's Jazz Club in Oakland, on December 23, at 8pm.

The big band's tour began on November 3, 3:00 pm, at the Scottish Rite Museum and Library in Lexington, MA, with McCarthy and NYABABB lead trumpeter Nick Marchione as featured soloists performing in the world premiere of an 18-minute, condensed wind ensemble arrangement of the PANS by the Metropolitan Wind Symphony (MetWinds), with McCarthy also performing as a soloist on composer Jeff Tyzik's composition, Riffs.

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McCarthy and his big band released The Pan American Nutcracker Suite album in 2022, on his Angelface Records label, which LatinJazz.net hailed as "a five-star performance from end to end." Reimagined in McCarthy and co-arranger/conductor Vince Norman's arresting arrangements, and driven by McCarthy's Tony Williams and Ray Barrett-inspired, in-the-pocket drumming, the recording includes the infectious, Afro-grooved take on "Overture, " the martial mambo-fired bolero "March, " and a cha-cha-cha/6/8 take of "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy." "Trepak" reminiscences in Ellington's terrific tempos he recorded on his 1960 recording of The Nutcracker Suite with Billy Strayhorn, contrasted to the atmospheric, Gil Evans-inspired vibe on "Arabian Dance." The Chinoiserie cadences on "Chinese Dance, " are matched in intensity by the partido alto-pulsed Brazilian rhythms on "Dance of the Reed Flutes" and the Venezuelan joropo dance grooves on "Waltz of the Flowers, " which was nominated for a 2023 Grammy Award In the Best Arrangement category.

A native of Connecticut and a graduate of the University of North Texas, McCarthy is a 20-year veteran of The United States Naval Academy Band. He was inspired to create the PANS around 2019 during the Pandemic, writing two movements with arranger Vince Norman. McCarthy moved to Miami to take a teaching position, and he finished writing the piece there. The University of Texas at Arlington commissioned McCarthy to premier the suite in 2021. "Tchaikovsky's music is so perfect. It's just perfect music… such amazingly great writing that is durable and flexible, " McCarthy proclaimed. "My real challenge was coming up with some great rhythmic settings to present this [Suite] in a different way. And that's how we came up with what we came up."

McCarthy's previous recordings include The Caribbean Jazz Project/Afro Bop Alliance featuring Dave Samuels won a 2008 Latin Grammy, and was also nominated in the Latin Jazz category at the 2009 Grammy Awards . His other recordings include Encarnacion, Una Mas, Camino Nuevo, Angel Eyes, and Upwards and Revelation. The big band also won four Wammie Music Awards.

The alternating core of the 18-piece NYABABB, which celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2025, consists of: McCarthy on drums; bassists Boris Kozlov and Luques Curtis; percussionists Luisito Quintero and Ray Contreras, pianist Hector Martignon, guitarist Vinny Valentino; lead trumpeter Nick Marchione, 2nd trumpet Tony Kadleck and David Nieves; 3rd trumpet Maneco Ruis and Stuart Mack ; 4th trumpet Diego Urcola; lead alto saxophonists Alejandro Aviles; 2nd alto saxophonist Andrew Gould; lead tenor saxophonist Luis Hernandez; 2nd saxophonist Lucas Pino, Frank Basile and Matt Hong on baritone sax; lead trombonists Noah Bless and Joe Fiedler, 2nd trombonists Juanga Lakunza and Matt McDonald; 3rd trombone Sam Blakeslee and Jeff Nelson and James Borowski on bass trombone.

McCarthy taps outstanding local and regional musicians to perform with the Big Band outside of New York and the East Coast. In Arroyo Grande, musicians include Quinn Johnson, piano; Giancarlo Anderson, percussion; Tony Bonsera, Nate Johnson and Joe Terry, trumpet; Andy Waddell, guitar; Tom Luer, alto saxophone; Brian Scanlon and Scott Martin, tenor saxophone; Adam Schroeder, baritone saxophone; Andy Martin, Phil Menchaca and Michael Nuefield, trombone; and Cody Kleinhaus, bass trombone. Oakland musicians to be announced soon.

More than a remake or a re-arrangement, McCarthy's PANS is a rousing work of art that speaks in all musical languages and is understood across the world's peoples and cultures. "Music has zero boundaries, " McCarthy authoritatively states. "It was my job not to mess up a masterpiece! I'm not a big fan of regurgitating other people's music, so it was extremely important that I did something that was completely different. So, when people hear what we do, and whether they have ever seen or heard The Nutcracker, they'll realize that a piece of music like this is just borderless. Music is a universal language."

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