La Buya’s music combines the melodic and percussive horns lines of Jessica Lurie (alto and tenor sax, flute), and Cochemea Gastelum (alto and tenor sax, bass clarinet) with the dynamic afro-cuban influences of percussionists Elizabeth Pupo-Walker, Neil Ochoa, and Chris Stromquist on drums. Linked together by the rich tones of Alvaro Buenavides on bass and Aaron Halva's Cuban tres guitar, the horns and percussion weave to create dance-able Latin grooves and improvisations. All of the players in La Buya are nationally and internationally recognized in the jazz, soul, Latin and funk scenes, and have a long history of performing together in various ensembles. The album is primarily original music where you’ll often hear the influence of Latin Boogaloo. A variety of guests were invited to join on this recording which enhanced La Buya’s creative energy and infectious grooves. 

LA BUYA is
Elizabeth Pupo Walker - percussion
Jessica Lurie - saxophones, flute
Cochema Gastelum - saxophones, flute
Neil Ochoa - percussion
Aaron Halva- tres guitar
Alvaro Benavides - electric bass
Chris Stromquist - drums, vibraphone

Special Guests:
Davis "Smoota" Smith - trombone
Keith Witty- acoustic bass, track 1
Emery Damon- bata drums - Track 2
Juancho Herrera - electric guitar, track 1
Apostolos Sideris - acoustic bass, tracks 1,2,6,7

ELIZABETH PUPO-WALKER (Percussionist) 
Elizabeth is of Cuban descent and based out of NYC. She has been featured in Drum! magazine and is a member of the Michael Leonhart Orchestra, chosen in Downbeat’s 2018 critics poll as one of the top three orchestras in NYC. Elizabeth studied in Havana, Cuba at Conjunto Folklorico Nacional de Cuba, and in Matanzas, Cuba with the world-renowned percussion ensemble Los Munequitos de Matanzas. She works within the Daptone Records family in Brooklyn in various groups, also having performed on tour with the late Sharon Jones and the Dapkings and on Conan O’Brien. In 2019, Elizabeth was co-composer on the entire Cochemea album, released by Daptone, which shot to #7 on the Billboard Jazz charts and #4 on Billboard’s World Music charts. She has performed and/or recorded with many artists, including John Legend, Dave Grohl, Nile Rogers, Mark Ronson, Christina Aguilera, members of R.E.M., and Pearl Jam, The Roots, Nels Cline, Sinead O'Connor, and Chris Potter, to name a few. Her film soundtrack and score work includes Netflix, HBO, and Disney. In 2019 she performed on the James Corden show in Reggie Watt’s House Band, and in the House band at the Kennedy Center for the 2018 Mark Twain awards honoring Julia Louis Dreyfus of Seinfeld.

COCHEMEA "Cheme" GASTELUM (Alto Sax,Flute,Bass Clarinet) is steadily gaining a reputation as one of the finest  players on the jazz/funk scene today. He seamlessly blends his musical influences, "...recalling shades of Bennie Maupin and Eddie Harris"(Fog City Records),while displaying a style uniquely his own. Cochemea gained national attention while touring and recording with The jazz-funk outfit, Robert Walter’s 20th Congress.  He is a member of the late Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, and notable songwriter on their Grammy nominated, Give the People What They Want. In 2010 Cochemea released his critically acclaimed solo album The Electric Sounds of Johnny Arrow, and in 2019, Daptone released Cochemea’s well received second solo album, All my Relations where he pays homage to his Native American ancestry. Cochemea was the featured soloist in the Tony award winning Broadway hit, Fela!, and has worked with iconic artists such as Amy Winehouse, The Roots, Aaron Neville, Public Enemy, Archie Shepp, Lady Gaga, Queen Latifah, and has been in supporting acts for Prince and Dave Matthews Band.

JESSICA LURIE (alto & tenor sax, flute) is a multi-instrumentalist performer, composer, producer, and teaching and recording artist. She leads her own Ensemble, and co-leads the Tiptons Sax Quartet & Drums, Living Daylights, Sofie Salonika, Freethiopiques and Slingshot. A Sundance Composers’ Fellow and in Downbeat’s 2021 “Rising Star for Alto Sax,” Jessica has released eight solo albums, fourteen albums with The Tiptons and five albums with Living Daylights as a member & lead composer, receiving critical acclaim in Billboard, Downbeat, NYTimes, Jazz Times, All About Jazz, Seattle Stranger, LA Weekly, Earshot Jazz, and national and international radio features. She has performed and/or recorded with artists such as Taylor Mac, John Zorn, Devotchka, Sleater Kinney, Helen Gillet, Fred Frith, Bill Frisell, Henry Butler, Indigo Girls, Mark Ribot, Frank London, Allison Miller, and Nels Cline among others. Her newest highly acclaimed release Long Haul (2018) is out on Chant Records. www.jessicalurie.com

NEIL OCHOA (Drummer/percussionist)  
Originally from Caracas, Venezuela.  Neil grew-up surrounded by percussionists and musicians, listening to and playing latin music all over his neighborhood. Since 1995 Neil has been living in New York City developing his career as a versatile musician and gaining awareness of all styles of music. Neil leads his cumbia-pop and Latin disco group Loco Beach and is a founding member of the acclaimed Venezuelan band Crema Paraíso. His achievements include playing and touring with: The Jazz-tap Hip-hop Festival,  Ricky Martin, Rolando Briceño and his Afro-Venezuelan Jazz Sextet, Angela Bofill, the ballet company "The Daring Project" featuring Valentina Kozlova among others, Cyro Baptista and Beat the Donkey, Mata Buena Orchestra, guitarist Aquiles Baez, Venezuelan singer Irene Farrera, Gary Morgan and his "Panamericana" Jazz Big Band, Carlota Santana Spanish Dance, Joia Kante’s African dance project. He's also performed and recorded with Leon Parker and his percussion and vocal Live Ensemble. 

ALVARO BENEVIDES (electric bass)
Originally from Venezuela, bassist Àlvaro Benavides resides in New York City where he performs with some of the most renowned Cuban bands. A brilliant soloist with unshakeable timing, he can shoulder the groove alone when the other musicians drop out or power the band to a devastating bomba climax. Expect wicked thumps, slaps and slides that congeal and combust with the cajón to produce an uplifting powerful rhythmic surge. For eight years he performed at home and internationally with the Pedrito Martinez Group -- earning a Grammy nomination -- as well as with with Wynton Marsalis, John Scofield, Steve Gadd, Ruben Blades and Issac Delgado.

CHRIS STROMQUIST (drums, vibraphone)
Chris Stromquist is a New York based drummer and percussionist with wide- ranging experience in Afro-Cuban, Brazilian, Balkan, Jazz and experimental music. Since 2002 he has been a member of the Seattle-based ex- Yugoslavian Folk/Punk band Kultur Shock, writing and recording three albums with the band and performing regularly throughout North America and Europe. Chris is also a member of the New York-based Balkan brass band Slavic Soul Party!, the Puerto Rican collective Zemog El Gallo Bueno and the Tiptons Saxophone Quartet & Drums. His work has appeared on over 40 albums of music in styles ranging from popular and classical to jazz and world music. Chris has performed and/or recorded with the following artists: Kultur Shock, Slavic Soul Party!, Zemog El Gallo Bueno, Jovino Santos Neto, Jack Endino, Mike Marshall, Billy Gould, Bob Power, Andrea Wittgens, Cee-Lo Green, Amy Denio, Jessica Lurie, Jonathan Kingham, Richard Egues, Michael Spiro, Roberto Borrell, Swampdweller, More Zero, Quasi Nada, Forgotten Sol, Amy Stolzenbach, Sonando, Glorious, Two Loons for Tea, Matt Brown, Nathan Spicer Trio, Orchestra Zarabanda, Alex Oana, Geoff Stanfield, Hans York, Eric Anders, Erik Brandt & the Urban Hillbilly Quartet, Kym Tuvim, Eric Goetz, Mycle Wastman