Felix Contreras
Felix Contreras is co-creator and host of Alt.Latino, NPR's pioneering radio show and podcast celebrating Latin music and culture since 2010.
In addition to his post behind the mic, Contreras programs music from the Latin diaspora for the acclaimed Tiny Desk concerts and hosts a weekly Instagram Live interview with a wide-ranging roster of guests.
A knowledgeable international ambassador for Latino heritage and arts, "Tio Felix '' travels extensively in search of new talent and new music and captures important legacy performers in jazz and Latin genres. Various national and international publications have quoted his expertise on the contemporary influences of Latin culture, music, and media.
His a recovering TV journalist whose first post at NPR in 2001 was as a Producer/Reporter for the NPR News Arts Desk. He is also NPR's resident Deadhead and performs around the DC area with his Latin music Beatles cover band, Los Day Trippers.
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Two new volumes of work by the legendary music writer Ralph J. Gleason are out this spring. Though he grew up during the Jazz Age, Gleason loved acts like Janis Joplin and the Grateful Dead too.
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Hear re-imagined pre-Colombian music and arias from the jungles of Brazil and beyond, chosen with the help of Tom Huizenga from NPR Music's Deceptive Cadence.
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Alt.Latino talks to a bandleader with deep roots in Cuban music and a role in current events. O'Farrill just released a new album called Cuba: The Conversation Continues.
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It's hard to imagine a musical career that included musicians as varied as Charlie Parker and Carlos Santana. But such was the resumé of Armando Peraza after almost 70 years of making music.
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O'Farrill's new album transforms big-band Latin jazz into something familiar, but with a new look. Its music moves forward in a subtle and graceful way that's likely to have a lasting impact.
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Concha Buika's voice doesn't come from inside her petite body: It comes from Africa, and from the past with obvious traces of flamenco.
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The celebrated Chicana author swings by to discuss life, literature and the music that moves her.
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Music journalist Joel Selvin has witnessed just about every significant musical moment in San Francisco in the past 35 years. Smart Ass: The Music Journalism of Joel Selvin compiles his best work into a tribute to the Bay Area's eclectic sound.
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Jazz musicians have long mined Broadway, the Great American Songbook, and even pop music for material. Here are five Latin interpretations of songs written by jazz musicians, a process that isn't as easy as playing the chords of a jazz composition over a mambo rhythm.
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Though you may not know him by name, you certainly know his work: Mitchell produced a string of hits by Al Green in the early to mid-1970s.