About Us

The Latin Grammy Award-winning New York Afro Bop Alliance Big Band (NYABABB) is an Afro-Cuban jazz ensemble based in New York City. As the winner of  Latin Jazz Album of the Year at the 9th Annual Latin Grammy Awards in 2008 for the recording “Afro Bop Alliance, featuring Dave Samuels,” released on the Heads-Up label, this recording was also nominated for a Grammy in the same category that same year at the 51st Grammy Awards.

NYABABB is founded and led by drummer Joe McCarthy. The band is comprised of first-call Jazz and Latin Jazz players from New York City who collectively perform with the greatest names in the business. The band draws from its own extensive catalog of charts featuring the writing and composing talents of members of the band and collaborations with Dave Samuels and Roland Vazquez, among others. The music of NYABABB has long been inspired by the great bebop tradition, married to the rich rhythmic stylings of Afro-Caribbean music.