It is one of the best large Latin Ensembles in the Continental USA. The Pacific Mambo Orchestra has immediately achieved resounding success. In 2014, just a few years after its foundation, it won a Latin Grammy Award with its debut album. Actually, its members – all based in the Bay Area – already had important careers behind them and collaborated with great artists. The orchestra is led by Mexican pianist Christian Tumalan and German trumpeter Steffen Kuehn. Their lineup consists of four trumpets, four trombones, five saxophones, piano, bass, a rich percussion section and two lead singers, Christelle Durandy and Armando Cordoba.
Stylistically speaking, this big band takes inspiration from the Latin music orchestra that performed in the American dance halls in the 1940s and 1960s. PMO crosses over other territories and plays its versions of songs by Dizzy Gillespie, Stevie Wonder and even Rachmaninov! Although it plays the best Latin traditional music, the orchestra mainly performs original songs and uses modern arrangements that bring new life to that genre. PMO’s latest album, “The III Side”, is a perfect example.
The orchestra offers a spectacular and high-energy show.
