Bio Ritmo is a 10-piece salsa band with ties to Puerto Rico that has been based out of  Richmond, VA for over thirty years.  They are known as pioneers of the indie-salsa music revival, inspired by classic salsa dura artists of the seventies such as Marvin Santiago, Bobby Valentine, Roberto Roena (and many more) but who have created their own unique sound, some say “experimental” for their mixing of influences not commonly found in salsa music. Their albums have received global acclaim, with critics calling the group “Latin music visionaries” and “one of the most innovative salsa bands of the 21st century”.

The Bio Ritmo story begins in 1991, when artist and educator Jorge Negron pulled together a group of friends from the Richmond arts scene to provide live percussion accompaniment for an IMAX volcano film. No one anticipated the seismic shift this presaged for the local music scene. That first iteration of the band, which included Rei Alvarez (now the band’s lead vocalist) and bandmate-turned-producer Jim Thomson (Electric Cowbell Records), coalesced around a shared love for the salsa rhythms of Alvarez and Negron’s native Puerto Rico. Bio Ritmo also brimmed with the energy and eclecticism that came from the musicians’ diverse experience playing punk, jazz, reggae and much more. Soon the ensemble included Bio Ritmo stalwarts, percussionists Giustino Riccio and Gabo Tomasini, and Bob Miller on trumpet. Together the band launched a serious study of salsa—listening to albums Negron’s father, a renowned locutor/DJ, sent from Ponce, the birthplace of signature Puerto Rican sounds, as well as taking lessons from local percussion masters. Early shows covering salsa classics gave way to barnstorming international performances of original compositions and over a dozen albums and singles as the band built a reputation among salsa aficionados.

 Bio Ritmo’s dance-forward and sometimes-experimental marriage of a formidable brass section with Puerto Rican percussion traditions—bongos, congas, timbales, claves, and guiro—can sound undeniably new. But it’s also the recipe that gave birth to a salsa revival in the New York barrios of the 1970s, when traditional musicians from the Puerto Rican and Cuban diaspora began to collaborate with New York-trained jazz artists. As opposed to the glossy and often commercial salsa romantica that followed, this collision of tradition and transformation was a perfect inspiration for a band hailing from Virginia, where self-invention was the only way to create a salsa scene.

As with any band three decades in, Bio Ritmo has seen changes, but their commitment to building an undeniable dance party on the rhythms of salsa never wavers. With a current line-up that has been together for over a decade, the ensemble now includes original members Alvarez, Riccio, and Miller; brothers Will and Marc Roman on congas and trumpet, respectively; bassist Eddie Prendergast; John Lilley on tenor sax; Toby Whitaker on trombone; and keyboardist and bandleader Marlysse Simmons. The band also works with rotation of special guests including former members and percussionists Héctor “Coco” Barez, Ernesto Laboy, Gabo Tomasini and frequent collaborator J.C. Kuhl on baritone sax.

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