Jamey Haddad & Romero Lubambo: Music of Brazil

Jamey Haddad: Featuring Guitarist Romero Lubambo

World-renowned percussionist Jamey Haddad (longtime member of Paul Simon’s band and Guggenheim Fellow) & Romero Lubambo (legendary Brazilian guitarist) play music of iconic Brazilian composers.

Jamey Haddad - percussion | Romero Lubambo - guitar | Pamela Driggs - vocal | Helio Alves - piano | Kip Reed - bass | Patrick Duke - percussion

EDWINS welcomes two master artists—Jamey Haddad and Romero Lubambo—for an evening of Brazilian music celebrating the genius of Antonio Carlos Jobim, Egberto Gismonti, Milton Nascimento, and Djavan. This show brigns the warmth of bossa nova, the beauty of Brazilian song, and the adventurous spirit of modern Brazilian jazz to EDWINS—full of melody, groove, and pure musical joy.

About Jamey Haddad

Widely regarded as one of the most innovative and versatile percussionists of his generation, Jamey Haddad has built a remarkable career at the intersection of jazz, world music, and classical traditions. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Haddad grew up surrounded by the rhythms and melodies of the Middle East. His early exposure to these sounds, combined with his deep immersion in American jazz, laid the foundation for a singular voice on percussion that has resonated on concert stages across the globe.

For more than four decades, Haddad has been sought out by some of the world’s most celebrated artists. He spent over 20 years touring and recording with Paul Simon, serving as a core member of Simon’s band and helping shape the sound of his legendary “Graceland” and “Rhythm of the Saints” tours. His collaborators extend across genres and continents, including Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble, Sting, Osvaldo Golijov, Dawn Upshaw, Béla Fleck, and Esperanza Spalding. In each setting, Haddad brings a unique ability to bridge cultures through rhythm, adapting seamlessly from Indian tabla to Brazilian pandeiro to Afro-Cuban congas—all while retaining his jazz sensibility and improvisational spirit.

In addition to his performance career, Haddad is an esteemed educator and mentor. He serves as Professor of Percussion at the Cleveland Institute of Music and heads the jazz percussion program at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where his classes attract students from around the world. His teaching emphasizes not only technical mastery, but also cultural awareness and the idea that music is a universal language of human connection. Many of today’s rising percussionists and drummers cite Haddad as a formative influence.

Haddad’s own artistry reflects his lifelong dedication to cultural exchange. He spent formative years living and studying in South India, absorbing the intricacies of Carnatic rhythm, and later immersed himself in the music of Brazil and the Middle East. This global perspective informs his playing, compositions, and recordings, which often blend instruments and traditions from multiple continents. His projects, such as Explorations in Time and Space, highlight his commitment to creating music that is both deeply rooted and boundary-breaking.

Respected equally in the worlds of jazz, world music, and classical composition, Haddad has been recognized with numerous awards, including a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship in 2010 for composition. Critics frequently describe him as not simply a percussionist, but a musical thinker and cultural ambassador, someone who expands the role of rhythm in contemporary music.

On stage, Haddad radiates joy, curiosity, and a profound sense of collaboration. Whether performing in a packed arena with Paul Simon, in an intimate jazz club, or leading workshops for young musicians, he brings the same spirit of openness and discovery. His career continues to demonstrate the power of rhythm to cross boundaries—geographical, cultural, and generational—and to remind us of the shared heartbeat that connects us all.

About Romero Lubambo

In 1985, Romero Lubambo came to the United States, and brought with him a new sound in Brazilian jazz guitar. Romero's guitar playing unites the styles and rhythms of his native Brazilian musical heritage with his fluency in the American jazz tradition to form a distinctive new sound.

From the cool, sophisticated rhythms of his native Brazil to hard bop, Romero is a guitarist who's comfortable in any musical setting. He is an uncommonly gifted soloist and musical improviser with a steady stream of unpredictably creative musical thoughts and the virtuosity to deliver them.

After arriving in New York City, Romero quickly established himself as a "first call" session and touring guitarist who was in demand not only for his authentic Brazilian sound, but also for his command with a variety of styles.

Lubambo has performed and recorded with many outstanding artists, including Dianne Reeves, Billie Eilish, Angelique Kidjo, Michael Brecker, Yo-Yo Ma, Kathleen Battle, Diana Krall, Herbie Mann, Wynton Marsalis, Gal Costa, Kurt Elling, Kenny Barron, Luciana Souza, Cyro Baptista, Sergio and Odair Assad, Ivan Lins, Grover Washington Jr., Vernon Reid, Flora Purim and Airto, Paquito D'Rivera, Harry Belafonte, Larry Coryell, Gato Barbieri, Leny Andrade, James Carter, Paula Robison, Dave Weckl, Jason Miles, and Cesar Camargo Mariano... among many others.

He has also established himself as a composer and performer on his own critically acclaimed recording projects as well as on those of Trio Da Paz, a Grammy®-nominated Brazilian jazz trio Lubambo formed with Nilson Matta and Duduka da Fonseca.

Lubambo is considered by critics to be "the best practitioner of his craft in the world today... the guitarist's facility, creativity and energy are in a class all their own." (Jazziz)