RIDGEFIELD - If the only things that come to mind when you thing about Cuba are Castro, cigars, and Mojitos, the Ridgefield Playhouse wants to introduce Newtown music lovers with a little "free time" to another Cuban export: Tiempo Libre. The diverse ensemble of childhood music academy classmates is all grown up and cooking up a spicy banquet of original arrangements for a headline set on Wednesday, February 8 at 7:30 pm.

Blending their popular Cuban music with salsa, American funk/R&B, and the strong influence of Afro-Cuban folkloric music - a/k/a Timba - Tiempo Libre blends an exhilarating mix of jazz harmonies with seductive Latin rhythms. The three-time Grammy-nominated group is one of the most in-demand Latin bands touring today as evidenced by its packed schedule of live shows around the globe in 2017.

Last fall, the band celebrated the release of "Mi Gente," a new single on Fania Records. Using the original recording of Hector Lavoe's voice in duet with lead vocalist Xavier Milli, Tiempo Libre's seven-piece ensemble delivers a high-powered performance of Johnny Pacheco's classic composition.

Founder and Musical Director Jorge Gomez took time to chat with The Newtown Bee about that project and his band ahead of a recent soundcheck in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

"It wasn't our idea to record that song, it was the people at Fania Records," Gomez said. "Fania is a huge label, and they are trying to revive all the compositions and singers they have under their wings. So they give me the song by Lavoe - 'Mi Gente' - and at the same time they give the same song to other people around the world to get different interpretations of that song."

In Europe, Gomez explained, they returned with a techno version, in Brazil performers did it Samba style, while Tiempo Libre was true to its roots, delivering a highly accessible Timba style.

Panamericano is Tiempo Libre's first album with Universal Music Latin Entertainment. The recording features multiple guest artists including Jean Rodriguez, Descemer Bueno, Frankie J. Yunel Cruz, Mr Haka, and Luis Fernando Borjas. But few of these special collaborators were strangers to the members of Tiempo Libre.

"Most of them were friends of ours," Gomez said. "So it was easy to say c'mon and collaborate with us. And they all said yes - for free! Descemer Bueno is a great composer who was singing with Enrique Iglesias. And we had Mr Haka, he's a rapper."

Gomez said the recording with Mr Haka represented the band's first integration of rap, further broadening Tiempo Libre's musical style, and appeal.

"That recording came out fantastic," he said. "He's rapping in Spanish, so it may not have a lot of appeal to American urban audiences, but it's got a good beat. It would be a good song for a movie, a movie about Miami."

Crafting 'Cuba Libre'

Gomez said he had one of the most incredible experiences of his busy life in 2015, when Tiempo Libre played its original music live on stage every night as part of Cuba Libre, a Broadway-scale musical produced by Artists Repertory Theatre that ran for seven weeks at Portland's Centers for the Performing Arts' Winningstad Theatre in Oregon.

Cuba Libre is a bilingual theater experience - with the majority of the dialogue in English and the music largely in Spanish - written by Cuban American playwright Carlos Lacémara and inspired by the collective histories as related to the playwright by the members of Tiempo Libre.

A 21-person ensemble of actors, dancers, singers, and musicians performed the multiethnic, multidisciplinary show that centers around a Cuban musician making a new life for himself as an American while he is still haunted by the sacrifices made to pursue his artistic dreams in the United States.

"I can't believe we got to do that," Gomez said. "The producer actually heard the band, and then she came to us and said she wanted to do something with the band, but in the musical theater [style] instead of as a straight musical concert. So she asked if we could do that, and we never tried that before so we said yes."

The first two-week run of the show was so well received that after departing for a short tour, Tiempo Libre was called back to Portland to continue performing with Cuba Libre, which ended up running two additional months to mostly sold-out houses, Gomez said.

"Every show was packed," Gomez said. "And then we won several awards for the compositions. We're planning to run the show again soon in Sarasota, Florida."

Utilizing material from Tiempo Libre's existing catalog, Gomez was still pressed to create several original compositions to help facilitate the production's musical continuity.

"This was the first time I ever had to compose material for the theater. And it was challenging because in musical theater, there are some changes every rehearsal," Gomez recalled. "You finish the song they ask for and play it Monday. Then Tuesday they ask to change the song. Then they change the tempo, then the song is too long and they want to make it shorter, then they need a new song because the first one we did isn't working. (laughing)"

But in the end, the production earned awards for Outstanding Original Musical at the Portland Area Musical Theatre Awards (PAMTA); and at the 38th Annual Drammys, Tiempo Libre was honored with Best Pit Ensemble, and Gómez won a PAMTA for Outstanding Original Score.

Band History

Classically trained at Havana's top music conservatories including La ENA (La Escuela Nacional de Arte), Tiempo Libre is made up of seven young Cuban musicians who individually fled Cuba for freedom, and upon reuniting in the Miami got together during their "free time" ("tiempo libre" in Spanish) from recording with other artists to perform the Cuban music that they loved.

Since their formation 15 years ago Tiempo Libre's members have been on a mission to serve as ambassadors to their Cuban culture. The seven childhood friends have made a name for themselves through standalone concerts across the US and worldwide, as well as collaborations with leading orchestras across the United States.

In the summer of 2002 Tiempo Libre made its debut at the Ravinia Festival opening for Celia Cruz. Tiempo Libre dazzled the crowd of 12,000 people, and were quickly reengaged by Ravinia to share the bill with Aretha Franklin in summer 2003. That appearance drew a crowd of 20,000.

The band has appeared on The Tonight Show as well as Live from Lincoln Center, Dancing with the Stars and virtually every entertainment program on Univision and Telemundo.

Tiempo Libre made its UK debut in summer 2014, with performances at London's prestigious Jazz Café and a stop at the Latitude Festival. The group's touring schedule in the United States has included performances at the Playboy Jazz Festival at the Hollywood Bowl, Miami's JVC Jazz Festival, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Celebrate Brooklyn, New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, Boston's Sculler's Jazz Club, even here in Connecticut at the New Haven Jazz Festival.

In addition to recording the duet "Para Tí" with virtuoso classical violinist Joshua Bell on his album, At Home With Friends, Gomez's Cuban cha-cha-cha version of "Christmas Auld Lang Syne" for Gloria Estefan and Joshua Bell was featured on Bell's Musical Gifts from Joshua Bell and Friends.

"Before I worked with Gloria Estefan, I had listened to her music all my life, and I knew every single song. Celia Cruz, too. We ended up opening for her five times," Gomez said. "At that time we started opening for big names like Aretha Franklin, the O'Jays, The Platters, and many Spanish acts. And we're still playing all over the world."

Tiempo Libre's 2011 album My Secret Radio pays homage to Tiempo Libre's teenage years in Cuba, a time when the government forbade its citizens to listen to American music, and Russia pulled its support from the island. And Tiempo Libre's first recording for Sony Masterworks, Bach in Havana in 2009, was nominated for a Grammy for Best Tropical Latin Album.

"As children, we were secretly listening to Earth, Wind & Fire, Chaka Kahn, Chick Corea, Kool & The Gang," Gomez said. "But all of those artists were illegal to listen to in Cuba at the time."

Gomez said from the first time he tuned his secret radio toward the broadcast antennas of Miami and drank in what America was offering to the rest of the free world, he and his childhood friends always dreamed of playing here.

"It was my dream, and even today can't believe it's happening," Gomez said.

Besides Gomez, on piano, the band currently features Xavier Mili, lead vocal; Wilber Rodriguez Guerra, bass; Luis Beltran Castillo, saxophone and flute; Leandro Gonzélez, congas; Michel Ruiz Garcia, trumpet; and Israel Morales Figueroa on drums.

Looking to the future, Gomez said he has his hands in three different projects - one with Tiempo Libre in the Timba style - the next is a project filled exclusively with love songs - and the third is a passion project, featuring all jazz compositions.

Learn more about the band at tiempolibremusic.com/

For tickets ($25) to the Ridgefield show on February 8, call or visit the box office, 203-438-5795 or go online at ridgefieldplayhouse.org. The Ridgefield Playhouse is a nonprofit performing arts center at 80 East Ridge, parallel to Main Street.

Check out Tiempo Libre performing in 2016 for TEDxCoconutGrove:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjBlQBTTZsc

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