August 2023

Hanging out with Victor Hernández Cruz in Adela’s on Avenue C is a little like visiting a temple or shrine of Nuyorico. He holds court with a kind of deadpanning prophesy, like an oracle descended from Aguas Buenas, Puerto Rico by way of Loisaida. His eyes widen as the ensalada de aguacate and plátanos maduros […]

As he worked his way through a rice bowl at a Japanese restaurant near Columbus Circle in Manhattan on a recent afternoon, the bassist, composer and arranger Carlos Henriquez reflected on the long history of Latino musicians in the jazz world. “In the 1920s, there was a bassist and tuba player called Ralph Escudero who used to […]

Though it has been law since 1917, the nature of US citizenship for those born in the US territory of Puerto Rico has always been murky.Puerto Ricans could serve in the US armed forces, but were denied the right to vote for president; the island is a territory of the US, but has never been a […]