Grammy winners at Half Note

Oscar Feldman on for a week

Latin-jazz musician Oscar Feldman, a Grammy Award winner from Argentina who has recently been busy working the New York scene, will front his quartet for a one-week run at the Half Note Jazz Club in Athens beginning tonight.

Feldman’s lineup for these shows will include percussionist and drummer Horacio “El Negro” Hernandez, also a Grammy Award winner, who rates highly on the international circuit in various musical fields, including jazz, latin, and rock.

Performing as a sideman on alto, tenor and soprano saxes, Feldman has recorded more than 50 albums ranging from straightforward jazz as well as Brazilian and pop music to fusion.

His first solo album, “El Angel,” was released in 1999, when he also recorded two albums with a big band conducted by Paquito D’Rivera, including “Tropicana Nights,” which received the Latin Grammy Award 2000 for Best Latin Jazz Album. In other joint efforts, Feldman has released notable work with high-profile musicians such as Al Di Meola and Eumir Deodato, the Brazilian-born musician who has racked up a number of platinum records as an artist, arranger and producer since his 1973 Grammy-winning debut release.

Also highly versatile, Hernandez, Feldman’s drummer and percussionist for the series of Athens shows, has collaborated with a wide range of acts, including revered jazz act McCoy Tyner, rock star Carlos Santana, and the late Latin-jazz great Tito Puente’s Tropi-Jazz All Stars.

The Cuban percussionist’s versatility suits Feldman’s stage intentions. The Argentinean saxophonist’s sets cover broad stylistic ground, ranging from abstract and moody material to bouncy, fluid and spicy Latin-jazz carried along by driving rhythm.

The Feldman quartet’s shows at the Half Note will be followed by a weeklong run from Portuguese fado singer Ana Lains and quartet beginning next Friday. Lains recently released a well-received debut album.