About Danzón band 

Danzón 

Salsa and Latin band

Danzón was once called the official dance of Cuba, The style developed in the second half of the 19th century, and has been an important root for Cuban music up to the present day.

The precursors of danzón are the contradanza, and the habanera,

Danzón salsa and Latin band normally has only 2 players  (but can be augmented)

Multi instrumentalists Tony Sheppard and Diane Atkinson use the ‘high tech’ capabilities of Tony’s keyboard to create the authentic Latin and Salsa rhythms needed for the show.  Its like having 4 or 5 extra players in the rhythm section .Congas , Guiros, Agogo, Claves, Bongos, Timbales,  Cowbell, Surdo, all can be controlled use the right rhythms for the appropriate song. Add to all this the Tenor Sax, Baritone Sax ,Flute, Trombone, Keyboards extra percussion and Vocals and the two musicians sound like an 8  piece band !

Tony and Diane set up Danzón  after finding that the Latin American numbers they included in their programme with the Ain’t Misbehavin’ Jazz band were proving really popular.

Their first appearance as Danzón (an evening of Latin and Salsa on the Oliver Comwell Showboat) was a huge success .