The second set of John Santos Latin Jazz Sextet held Friday night at Yoshi’s Oakland opened with an explosion of virtuosity, resulting in a standing ovation.

The five-time Grammy nominee sang, played congas and a variety of Afro-Cuban percussions, as well as Puerto Rican plena and bomba.

As a percussionist, Santos has long been associated with drumming in Sub-Saharan Africa and West African-influenced drumming.

Known for his innovative use of traditional forms and instruments in combination with contemporary music, Santos’ innovation continues to challenge and makes even the most experienced musician’s knees rattle.

Santos tore through a set’s worth of compositions that set bass ostinatos, played by the bassist Saul Sierra, against percussion flurries.

The group’s pianist Marco Dias and special guest pianist Jovina Santos Neto blended together numerous harmonies against the rhythms of David Flores’ rolling drums.

Saxophonist Melecio Magdaluyo and trumpeter Marco Diaz pulled everything all together standing far beyond the ordinary.

Special guest violinist Anthony Blea, in a kinetic merger of melody and percussive syncopation with the sextet, extended the jazz harmonies even further.

This wide stylistic palette, bolstered by a surge of percussion, was brought to the table and reeled off their best playing of the night.

The Bay Area has a community of musicians who specialize in the Afro-Cuban/tropical realm of Latin Jazz.

Tropical is used to describe the forms of Spanish-language Latin music having African influence, including Afro-Cuban salsa, Dominican meringue and bachata, Puerto Rican plena and bomba and Colombian cumbia. Latin music from Brazil, where Portuguese is spoken, provides an altogether different flavor.

“The highlight of tonight’s show for me was sharing the stage with the guest artist Jovina Santos Neto, from Brazil and Anthony Blea,” said Santos. “They provided our sextet with a very unique combination of music.”

On piano, Neto dedicated one of his compositions to Santos that translates from Portuguese in English to “lightening and pepper.” 

“What a combination—lightening and pepper. The spirit of truth through music creates unity,” said Neto.

While there were traces of predictable song forms with the occasional vocal and flute solo, the music was about percussion.

It was also about dancing, as thirty minutes into the set the dancers took over the dance floor.

Native San Franciscan Santos is one of the foremost exponents of Afro-Latin music in the world today. Raised in the Puerto Rican and the Cape Verde traditions of his family, he grew up surrounded by music.

This fertile musical environment shaped his career in a unique way.

Santos has worked multi-generational masters such as Dizzy Gillespie, Chucho Valdes, Tito Puente, Max Roach, Eddie Palmieri, Bobby Hutcherson, John Handy, Ed Thigpen Steve Turre, McCoy Tyner and Patato Valdés.

Santos has released many of his albums on his own independent label Machete Records.

As a spiritually conscious being, Santos paid homage through songs to those musicians who have passed on.

“Ancestor respect and community is part of the traditional spirituality base in West Africa,” said Santos.

As an activist, Santos stood in protest outside of this year’s Grammy Awards with other jazz musicians to send a message to Grammy President Neil Portnow and the Grammy Board in demand that they reinstate the 31 Musical Categories eliminated this year.

The categories are mostly black, Latino, Asian and Native American.

“Having a protest as an alternative was our way of showing the Grammy Board that we do not appreciate being left out,” proclaimed Santos.

The show closed with an encore, where the percussion sounds traded solos and jacked up the musical intensity.