Donald Vega Latin Jazz Quartet
Paul Brown Monday Night Jazz
Bushnell Park
Hartford
July 27, 2026
Something you learn as you get older is that rules can be a great source of inspiration.
I don’t mean innovating ways to break the rules, although that can be fun in its own way. No, sometimes limits and structures might seem confining at first, but lead to spectacular results. As a rule, humans can’t grow wings. But we found a way to fly within our limits, and fly hundreds of people at a time to boot.
Donald Vega Latin Jazz Quartet brought that energy and flight to the fourth week of the Paul Brown Monday Night Jazz concert in Bushnell Park. Continuing the themed selections for performers, the July 27th concert featured Latin jazz, with Vega’s group as the headliner. Performing alongside Vega were Carly Maldonado on percussion/congas, Luques Curtis on bass and Jerome Jennings on drums.
One aspect of the Latin musical influences I enjoy is how it superimposes a melodic quality over the controlled improvisations of jazz. I’ve come to understand jazz as comparable to a live performance of a sketch comedy act. Both have scripts that they follow (in jazz’s case, the sheet music). But there are purposeful gaps for performers to move beyond the prepared materials and allow their creativity, mood, or the flow of the evening to dictate the performance.
The influences of Latin music– structurally, aurally, in terms of instrumentation– afford the jazz music more well-defined parameters, as the performance must conform to two sets of, if not rules, then musical guidelines. Of course improvisation is still a major part. But the sometimes harsh qualities of jazz are smoothed by melodies, heavy reliance on rhythm and percussion, and an infectious energy that is more celebratory compared to the at times academic feeling of traditional jazz.
By example, the first song of the group’s 90-minute set was one Vega wrote for his son, titled “Baila”. As its name suggests, Baila is a dance song, carried by the strong rhythms of Maldonado on the conga. With Maldonado and Jennings keeping the rhythm, Vega layered sharp transitions and manic improvisations of jazz piano on top with masterful effect. It felt like his piano was slamming against the walls of the percussion, but that made the music better, an energetic tug-of-war between styles. Curtis’ bass play was outstanding as well. Each time he struck the down note on his bass, it rumbled like thunder across the pavilion.
Even without such strong play from Maldonado and Jennings, Vega was able to keep the crowd mesmerized. On one solo from the song “Broadway,” he managed to evoke the feeling of old-timey feel of jazz precursors like ragtime, all while maintaining the high level of energy of Latin music. His fingers flowed effortlessly over the keys and the notes blended with Curtis’ bass. The applause was loud and sustained when he finished.
It’s not something I would have said 20 years ago, but constraints can be a good thing when they lead to new kinds of innovation and expression. The Donald Vega quartet showed that combining the rules of Latin music and jazz can lead to something unique.
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Jamil goes to finally check out karaoke in the park, if the weather holds up.
