Zaccai Curtis: Cubop Lives!
Afro-Cuban fire meets straight-ahead mastery
Sponsored by Cathy & Ron Yoder
Concerts : Sunday Nov 1 : 5 PM & 8 PM | Monday Nov 2 : 6:30 PM
Zaccai Curtis is an acclaimed recording artist and producer. He won the 2025 Grammy Award for Best Latin Jazz Album with "Cubop Lives." He leads his own groups, the Zaccai Curtis Quintet and Sonido Solar. A native of Connecticut, he moved to New York City in 2005.
Cubop blends together Afro-Cuban rhythm and American bebop sensibilities. It started back in the 1940s when Cuban musicians and Americans, such as Dizzy Gillespie, joined forces. In an interview in January 2026 with WTCC radio in Springfield, MA, Zaccai talked about the depth of Cubop, with its three percussionists and flutist, and how it energizes people and gets them dancing. The result? A blend of Afro-Cuban fire and straight-ahead jazz mastery.
Together with his brother Luques, Zaccai co-founded the record label TRRcollective, a collaborative space for musicians to produce and release their own music.
He has performed with renowned artists including Christian Scott, Donald Harrison, Cindy Blackman Santana, Eddie Palmieri, Lakecia Benjamin, Brian Lynch, the Mambo Legends, Avery Sharpe, and many others.
A three-time ASCAP Young Jazz Composer Award winner, Zaccai is a prolific composer and arranger for his own groups, as well as artists like Little Johnny Rivero, Steve Kroon, Waitiki 7, and Sonido Solar. His quartet was chosen by the U.S. State Department for the American Music Abroad(Jazz Ambassadors) program twice, touring South Asia in 2006. In 2007, he received the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism's Artist Fellowship for original composition. He produced the Grammy-nominated album “Entre Colegas” by Andy González in 2016. In 2017, he was awarded the Chamber Music America's New Jazz Works grant, and in 2020, he was named Rising Star in the DownBeat Critics Poll.
In addition to his performance career, Zaccai is a respected educator, teaching at the University of Hartford's Jackie McLean Jazz Studies Division. He is also an author, having written two instructional books: Art of the Guajeo and Theory of the Common Voicing, which support students in their jazz and Latin jazz studies.
Zaccai is set to release his new album, “Sonoluminescence,” sometime this year. Who knows, maybe the BJS will be one of the first audiences to hear it in November!