Rainbow Soul

Host Deardra Shuler talks with Oscar Hernandez, pianist and bandleader of the Spanish Harlem Orchestra. The two-time Grammy Award-winning salsa band, sets the standard for authentic New York style salsa dura. Live or recorded, it doesn’t get any better, and whether at a concert hall or outdoor jazz festival, there is no easing the audience in as the Spanish Harlem Orchestra performs at full force from start to finish. Although the Bronx native was once best known as Rubén Blades’ pianist and musical director, Hernández has also worked with such seminal artists as Ismael Miranda, Ray Barreto, Celia Cruz, and Paul Simon. Spanish Harlem Orchestra’s blend of classic salsa tunes with new material debuted with 2002’s Un Gran Dia En Barrio, which earned the 2003 Latin Billboard Award for Salsa Album of the Year-Best New Group and a Grammy nominee for Best Salsa Album. Their second release, Across 110th Street won the 2005 Grammy Award for Best Salsa/Merengue Album. Next came the Grammy nominated album United We Swi