World Music: Hugo Cruz & Caminos

City of Asylum crowd favorite Hugo Cruz and Caminos fuse rhythms and melodies of Afro-Cuban, Cuban, jazz, funk, and R&B music styles, performing original, contemporary expression that honors traditional Cuban form. Led by percussionist Hugo Cruz, who performs and records with notable Pittsburgh artists including the Afro Yaqui Music Collective, Dr. James Johnson, Roger Humphries, Ernest McCarty Jr, Tubby Daniels, Dwayne Dolphin, Mark Strickland, Poogie Bell, Max Leake, Jeff Grubbs, Paul Thomson, and many others, the Caminos always know how to bring the party to the Alphabet City stage. Each performance by the Caminos promises to be a packed-to-the-rafters evening full of good music, good people, and rhythms that attendees can’t help but dance to. This December, Hugo and the Caminos will share some of his original fusion compositions, with Afro-Cuban, jazz, funk, and flamenco influences.

Featured Artists:

Mark Micchelli: keys, piano

Eli Namay: bass (electric and acoustic)

Frank DiDiano: electric guitar

JD Chaisson: trumpet

Hugo Cruz: drums, percussion, vocals

About the Hugo Cruz & Caminos:

In February 2022, Hugo Cruz released his first original album, Punto de Partida, with the group Caminos, featuring notable musicians from Cuba and the U.S. In 2019 Caminos started performing in and outside of the Pittsburgh area. The band has performed at the Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival, Carnegie Museum of Art, The Frick, Reservoir of Jazz, the Westsylvania Jazz and Blues Festival in Indiana, PA, the Erie Jazz Festival, Smithsonian Museum, Pittsburgh Playhouse, City of Asylum, Con Alma, ThunderBird Cafe, and many more. From December 2022 through August 2024, Caminos hosted a lively monthly concert series called The Voice of Drums at Kingfly Spirits, which featured mostly Pittsburgh-based drummers and musicians spanning genres and cultures to join Caminos in a fresh and original expression of each other’s music. Hugo Cruz has been a drum teacher at the Afro-American Music Institute and did workshops as a special guest at the University of Pittsburgh, Duquesne University, Indiana PA University, Sankofa Village, Hope Academy Orchestra, and several youth and cultural organizations throughout the city, and has performed at the Heinz Hall as a special guest of the Pittsburgh Symphony.

About Your Visit: 

The in-house restaurant Cucina Alfabeto is open for dinner from 5-10pm. Please visit Open Table or call 412-435-1111 to make a reservation.