Joe McCarthy's New York Afro Bop Alliance
The Latin Grammy® Award-winning New York Afro Bop Alliance Big Band (NYABABB) is an Afro-Cuban jazz ensemble based in New York City. As the winner of Latin Jazz Album of the Year at the 9th Annual Latin Grammy® Awards in 2008 for the recording “Afro Bop Alliance featuring Dave Samuels,” released on the Heads-Up label, this recording was also nominated for a Grammy® in the same category that same year at the 51st Grammy Awards®.
NYABABB was founded and is led by drummer Joe McCarthy. The band is comprised of first call Jazz and Afro-Cuban Jazz players from New York City who collectively perform with the greatest names in the business. The band draws from their own extensive catalog of charts featuring the writing and composing talents of Joe McCarthy and Vince Norman, among other members of the band and collaborations with Dave Samuels, Victor Provost and Roland Vazquez. The music of NYABABB has long been inspired by the great bebop tradition, married to the rich rhythmic stylings of Afro-Caribbean music.
The New York Afro Bop Alliance Big Band has been featured at the Jazz at Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, The Duke Ellington Jazz Festival, The Silver Spring Jazz Festival, The Provincetown Jazz Festival, The WC Handy Jazz Festival, The San Antonio Jazz Festival, The Levitt Pavilion, The Side Door Jazz Club, Arlington Music Hall, The Jazz Lab, Blues Alley, Bethesda Blues and Jazz, Rams Head On Stage with Paquito D’ Rivera, The Jazz Educators Network International Convention (JEN), The Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC), The University of Florida, Georgetown University, George Mason University, University of Maryland, West Chester University, Rowan University and The Smithsonian’s Jazz Appreciation Series, among many others.
Guests who have recorded and/or performed with the band include Paquito D’ Rivera, Poncho Sanchez, Manuel Valera, Ruben Rodriguez, Ryan Keberle, Hector Martignon, Roberto Quintero, Arturo O’ Farrill, Dave Samuels, Roland Vazquez, Luques Curtis, Michael Mossman, Ray Vega, Antonio Hart, Oscar Stagnaro, Luis Bonilla and Joe Magnarelli.
In addition to their Latin Grammy®, NYABABB has received a total four Wammie Awards (Washington DC Area Music Association) two for Best Latin Ensemble, one for Best Latin Recording and one Best Big Band Recording.
Active in education, NYABABB has led numerous clinics and master classes around the country at both the collegiate and secondary school levels, including The University of Texas Arlington, The University of Central Oklahoma, Rowan University, Shenandoah Conservatory, Florida Atlantic University, Georgetown University, George Mason University, Southeastern Oklahoma State University, Washington College and West Chester University. The music of The Afro Bop Alliance Big Band is featured in leader/drummer Joe McCarthy’s educational Afro-Cuban big band play-along series published by Alfred Music.
