Oscar Hernández knows he might be stepping on some toes, but he’s got to be honest. Related Articles Review: Guitar hero triumphs over devastating injury in miraculous fashion Review: Billie Eilish stays true to herself and fans as she grows as an artist Top 5 New Year’s Eve concerts to see in the Bay Area This should be one of the most fun retro concert tours of 2025 ‘Billie Car’: Eilish fans can take special train to concert at SAP Center The pianist, arranger and leader of the triple Grammy Award-winning Spanish Harlem Orchestra, Hernández realizes that his opinion will be considered near blasphemy in some circles, “but sometimes dance trivializes the art form,” he said. “I prefer when we do sit-down concerts.
” Now, this might sound like peanut butter denouncing jelly, or Batman dropping a dime on Robin. Since emerging from New York City’s late-1960s Latin dance scene as a combination of Cuban, Puerto Rican and other Caribbean rhythms, the musical idiom known as salsa has been inextricably linked to the hip-swiveling dance style called by the same name. He knows that when the Spanish Harlem Orchestra returns to the SFJAZZ Center’s Miner Auditorium Saturday and Sunday, Dec.
21-22, the dance floor will be open (though determined terpsichoreans will need to find their own space to twirl at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center concerts Thursday Dec. 19). Hernández can cut the rug himself when he feels the notion, “but there’s a time and place for everything,�.
