Juan de Marcos & the Afro-Cuban All Stars

Saturday, March 23, 2013 | 8:00 pm

Page Auditorium

Cuban dance music’s greatest champion is Sierra Maestra founder Juan de Marcos González, the “Quincy Jones of Cuba.” The singer and tres-player’s big band, the Afro-Cuban All-Stars, “represents the cream of Cuba’s instrumentalists” (All Music Guide). Its 1997 album, A Toda Cuba Le Gusta, was the first to be recorded during the legendary Buena Vista Social Club sessions, while 2005’s Grammy-nominated Step Forward was “a bold new statement for the future” (All Music Guide). With invigorating singing, horns, piano, guitars, drums, and a variety of traditional Cuban instruments, four generations of musicians whip everything from bolero to salsa into a learned but boundless dance, local in its substance and universal in its appeal.