Son is the acoustic music from the Cuban countryside that is considered to be one of the primary roots of modern salsa. It is typically played on the tres (cuban style guitar), guitar, bass, bongo, clave, maracas, trumpet, and vocals.
Grupo Son is a Seattle based group consisting of:
Fred Hoadley – tres guitar, coro
Originally from New England, Fred studied music at Hampshire College and Berklee College of Music, where his teachers included Jaki Byard, Vishnu Wood, and Charlie Banacos. He founded the Seattle salsa band Bochinche in 1983, and produced the band’s first album, Ahora Bochinche. After leaving Bochinche in 1990, Fred toured nationally with the West African band, Kukrudu, and founded the Seattle based Afro-Cuban jazz band, Sonando, whose 1994 and 1998 releases received critical acclaim around the country. His love of latin music brought him to Cuba in 1983, 1990, 1993, and 1996, where he studied piano and arranging with Cesar Pedroso and Nelson Diaz, and Cuban tres guitar with Antonio Perez and Jorge Boulet. He currently plays piano and tres in Yerba Buena, The Savoy Swing Band, and Sonando.
Elspeth Macdonald - lead vocals, maracas, clave
Elspeth grew up in rural Maine and received a BA in Music from Wesleyan University in Connecticut. After a brief stint singing with Hell’s Kitchen Opera Company in New York City and doing summer stock theater, Elspeth landed in Seattle. She continued her vocal study in Seattle with Valerie Yockey and Thomasa Eckert. A lucky encounter with Cuban music in 1992 caused the epiphany that led Elspeth to dive into Latin music and culture. In 1993 she traveled to Venezuela and studied Cuban percussion with conguero Tomás Fajardo, and has since studied with several Cuban musicians and dancers both here in the U.S. and in Cuba. In 1994 she co-founded the charanga band Yerba Buena, and continues to lead this group. Elspeth has sung lead and played percussion for Cuban son group, Son de Cinco a Siete, folkloric ensemble Out of My Gourd, and Samba Seattle, and Los Nietos del Son.
Barney Brazitis– bass
Grupo Son's newest member, Barney Brazitis, joined the group in 2000. Barney is, for good reason, one of the Seattle area's busiest bassists, having served in many jazz, salsa, latin, rock and R&B units. Not only has he helmed the bass chores in those groups, but he has also operated as an accomplished arranger and percussionist. Barney's formative time spent at the Cornish College of the Performing Arts (where he met Grupo Son's Leader Fred Hoadley) prepared him for the diverse artistic accomplishments he would later achieve, and sparked his interest in Afro-Cuban music, in which he is a respected authority.
Ernesto is a professional percussionist with twenty years of experience in live performance and studio recording. A native of Seattle, he began his career in local jazz and dance clubs. Since then he has extensively toured the United States, Canada and the Bahamas, with The Seattle Rhythm Band, Bochinche, and Expresión Latina. Ernesto also designs Latin percussion instruments. Utilizing specially designed hardware his designs improve the sound quality of percussion instruments.
Pete Wilson – trumpet, coro, clave
Pete began his music studies at age seven on the piano, switching to trumpet when he was nine. After graduating magna cum laude with a B. A. in Music Education from college in 1976, he recorded and toured the western U. S. and Canada with Clear Logic, a rock show band, playing trumpet, flute, keyboards, guitar and singing background and lead vocals. In the 1980's he played trumpet for the Seattle Seahawks football team for seven seasons. He has taught music in the public schools of Snohomish for the last 17 years while continuing to play professionally in a number of local bands, including Expresion Latina, Grupo Son and Matices.