Some Fridays are ideal for sharing pizza with old friends followed by an evening of Latin jazz with local musicians. After slamming ginger ale and joshing over the hazards of biking to work with my Montessori peeps in Bay View, I bounced to Bruce Street to catch The Carlos Adames Group at Anodyne Coffee on Oct. 24.
I met with Adames before the show. Not only the primary composer and band leader for one of Milwaukee’s leading Latin jazz bands, Adames is an adjunct professor at Alverno College. While providing instruction for percussion techniques and music therapy, Adames lauds Alverno for its “great approach to education and a great approach to community.” (He will be leading a son montuno ensemble for spring 2026, which will be open to the public.)
It’s time to pick your Milwaukee favorites for the year!
Adames also shared his rich musical heritage, gained from his grandparents and through his travels throughout the world, and passed along to his 5-year old son. “My grandfather was a music lover,” he said. “We would hear from Muddy Waters to Steely Dan, Pink Floyd to Chopin. I grew up listening to almost everything. It was Latin jazz that I was attached to.” Adames was inspired by his late grandmother to create one of his more beautiful compositions, called “Queen of the Sunflowers.” “She was a singer. She was one of the biggest inspirations I had.”
An ample crowd graced Anodyne, anticipating rhythm and moveable melodies from the six-piece Carlos Adames Group. The band took the stage at 7:30 p.m., as promised, and promptly provided percussion-led Latin jazz grooves for the next two hours and change.
First Set
Before launching into “Muevete,” on which he plays killer conga, Carlos Adames suggests ways to respond to the changing political and social landscape: “Kill people with kindness,” which he immediately contradicts, like John Lennon in “Revolution 1.” “But I’m not sure I agree with that. It all depends on what you’ve got to lose.” Wise words for all of Milwaukee to consider as we respond to shutdowns, programs closing and history disappearing. Adames knows the voice of the oppressed can only be so loud, so true: It all depends upon just how much you have to lose.
“Muevete” has a steadily determined optimism with no room for foolishness, held together with danceable urgency encouraged by pianist Elias Holman’s boogie and made mystic by Tony Ayala’s timbales. The song is a celebration for only those with the courage to keep moving on. Adames told me before the show that “Muevete” is vital because it “resembles what’s going on in our new political and social climate” and reminds us “to stay awake, stay aware, stay true to your beliefs. Always fight for what’s right.”
A composition by bassist John P. Simons, called “Naked Lies,” delivers one hell of a groove that gets even the music writer bobbing his hesitant head, which passes for cutting a rug in his world. Next is “Besame Mama,” which pours like rain on an afternoon in search of even more rain, the swinging of Horace Silver shining bright with the tightness of Steely Dan. Adames introduces “Sin Temor” with a gentle reminder – “Don’t be afraid to be mistaken” – as the group lays down atmospheric wonders that call to mind my favorite Mos Def track, “UMI Says.” “Chan Chan” brings Russell Russetto’s trombone out to play, carrying a great groove to which a couple gets down with meandering charm just behind the nodding writer.
Second Set
The group kicks off their second set with “Dreaming of New York,” a piano and percussion-led swinger, and though no one is yet dancing, they should be. Adames tells us “cero y van dos.” While tricky to translate into English, it refers to being warned, like a child, not to do something again, but you do it anyways. Taking the cue to cut up, pianist Elias Holman gets Vince Guaraldi by way of Richard Manuel on the keys, the song moving in the shadows, almost as the shadows themselves…
As the show neared its conclusion, I was treated to a surprising and endearing anecdote. Adames introduced the song “Momo’s Hat” by sharing: “I used to have a ferret and we would wear matching hats.” It is by far the catchiest song about wearing matching hats with a ferret that I’ve ever heard. The wine glass on the table in front of me shakes along to the batá drum as “Momo’s Hat” segues into “Welcome to Soweto”, another contagious collage of smooth rhythm led by percussion and thoughtful bass lines.
Before the show is over, Adames applies more of his hard-earned perspective of the wider world: “I think the answer is love, but sometimes we need a little beyond that. … I don’t know. We play music.” Much like The Sound of Music being far more than just a film about escaping fascism, the music and ideas of The Carlos Adames Group encourage us to run to the rhythm, hand in hand between the closing walls of culture, to somewhere beyond. The Carlos Adames Group play the kind of music that can carry on forever, into the night and back into the day, and like a sun setting, it also rises.
The Carlos Adames Group
- Carlos Adames – Percussion/Vocals Congas, Batá drum
- Elias Holman – Piano
- John P. Simons – Bass
- Tony Ayala – Timbales
- Russell Russetto – Trombone
- Jason M. Goldsmith – Sax
