Melvis Santa is a Grammy-nominated Afro-Cuban jazz singer, pianist, batá drummer, educator, and actress; from Havana, based in New York City.
Already a famous jazz singer in Cuba, Melvis has been backing jazz legends in New York for a decade. She is one of the keys to New York City’s incredible Afro-Cuban jazz community. Santa is also an accomplished educator. If you have a chance to study with her, do it. Some of her students have themselves become very famous artists.
Melvis Santa is now raising her own voice as the leader of Melvis Santa & Jazz Orishas. Extending the road opened by the ancestors, Santa continues to reveal herself as a true force of nature at the intersection of jazz and Cuban Yoruba traditions. ¡Ashé!
Witness the Birth of Melvis Santa & Jazz Orishas
Melvis Santa & Jazz Orishas debuted at Aaron Davis Hall in Harlem, and Brooklyn’s BRIC JazzFest in 2022, at the Newport Jazz Festival in August 2023, and at the Women in Jazz Festival at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in March 2024 under the full moon. She’s been sponsored by both New York City and New York State. What a great beginning!
Their self-titled debut album is scheduled for independent release in Summer 2024. It’s the kind of music New York needs right now. The first single, “Arere: Fuerza Ancestral,” is out now on streaming platforms. We encourage you to follow Melvis as she releases her first album as a leader in New York City on Instagram @melvissanta
Melvis Santa & Jazz Orishas are:
- Marcus Gilmore – drums @drummerslams 🇺🇸
- Rashaan Carter – bass @free.bass 🇺🇸
- Vinicius Gomes – guitar @viniciusjsgomes 🇧🇷
- Josh Evans – trumpet @jwevans84 🇺🇸
- Melvis Santa – piano, vocals, music, poems and percussion. @melvissanta 🇨🇺
Melvis Santa in New York City
Tadpole
Melvis Santa & Jazz Orishas sing Afro-Cuban jazz at Tadpole bar in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn; on June 7, 2024 at 8pm & 10pm. @tadpole.bk 🇨🇺
Brooklyn Heights Public Library
Melvis Santa & Jazz Orishas sing Afro-Cuban jazz in the Multipurpose Room at the Brooklyn Heights Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library; on Tuesday, April 16, 2024 at 6:15pm. FREE with rsvp. bklynlibrary.org 🇨🇺
Blue Note New York
Kenny Garrett and Sounds From the Ancestors with Cuban vocalist Melvis Santa play jazz; at the Blue Note jazz club in Greenwich Village; from Thursday-Sunday, April 4-7, 2024 at 8pm & 10:30pm (6pm & 10pm doors). From $35. bluenotejazz.com 🇺🇸 🇨🇺
New York Venues
Over the years, Melvis has played all over New York. These are some of the venues she has played lately.
- Aaron Davis Hall performing arts center at City College of New York in Harlem
- Birdland jazz club
- Blue Note jazz club
- BRIC JazzFest
- Bronx Museum of the Arts
- Brooklyn Heights Library
- Dizzy’s Club at Jazz at Lincoln Center
- Jazz Gallery jazz club
- Minton’s Playhouse jazz club (were bebop was born)
- National Jazz Museum in Harlem
- Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
- Tadpole bar in Brooklyn @tadpole.bk
- Zinc Bar
Melvis Santa
Melvis Santa was born in Barrio de Colón in Central Havana, Cuba, where her talent showed early. She began studying theatre when she was just 4 years old. She graduated in Piano and Music Theory at the prestigious Amadeo Roldan Conservatory.
At 14, Melvis founded Sexto Sentido (Sixth Sense), a vocal collective that Cuban jazz legend Chucho Valdés called “the best Cuban vocal quartet of the past 30 years.” They won the Jo-Jazz (Cuban Youth Jazz competition) in 2001. In 2010, Melvis joined timba fusion band Interactivo as one of the lead vocalists.
In 2011, she starred in the movie “7 Days in Havana” directed by Benicio del Toro, Julio Medem and others. It was selected for the Cannes Film Festival.
Melvis went solo in 2012. Many jazz lovers know her debut album “Santa Habana.”
In New York, she plays with a Who’s Who of jazz and Latin jazz greats, both American and Cuban. Past projects include Melvis Santa & Ashedi, an Afro-Cuban roots music project, and Ellas-Son, an all-women ensemble that celebrates women in Cuban pop music.
Melvis has held residencies at the Jazz Museum in Harlem, Boulder University in Colorado, University of the Arts in Philadelphia, and The Chicago Jazz Philharmonic.
She has taught at New York University (NYU), Yale University, CUNY Graduate Center, The Spence School private girls school in Manhattan, Tulane University of New Orleans, and others. She is not just a great performer, she can explain the history behind the traditions.
Melvis founded the Caribe Body Fitness dance program and the Afro Cuban Voice Therapy music program. Melvis is a natural healer. Healing is what Afro-Cuban drum, song, and dance traditions are all about.
Albums
- “Melvis Santa & Jazz Orishas” (2024) is scheduled for release in Summer 2024.
- “Odarra” (2018) earned a Grammy nomination for “Best Latin Jazz Album.”
- “Santa Habana” (2012) was nominated for the Cubadisco Awards, a major festival and awards program that celebrates Cuban music.
Awards
- Brooklyn Conservatory of Music Jazz Leaders Fellowship
- NYC Women’s Fund (2023)
- Paul Simon Music Teachers Fellowship
More Information
We haven’t known Melvis for very long, but immediately felt that there is more to her than meets the eye. We can’t wait to see what she does next.
Facebook @Melvis.Santa
Instagram @melvissanta
YouTube @melvissanta6592