Rafael Rosa Quartet

Rafael Rosa brings his quartet to the Charlene A. Gordon Theater at the Ferman Center for the Arts on Wednesday, October 28. The show runs from 7:30 PM to 8:30 PM, and it's presented by the University of Tampa, which keeps it open to the public.

Rosa is a New York City-based jazz guitarist and composer, and his sound does a few things at once: it blends jazz with Puerto Rican bomba and rock. For this performance, he's teaming up with three Florida-based jazz virtuosos. Gianni Bianchini is on piano, Ross Kratter on bass, and Ian Goodman on drums. It's a full quartet—guitar, piano, bass, and drums—so you'll have the rhythm section locked in behind him.

If you're not familiar with the bomba side of things, it's a traditional dance and music style from Puerto Rico, known for its driving percussion and call-and-response. Hearing that woven into a jazz quartet setting is where the night gets its specific character, especially with the rock influence Rosa brings to the mix. It's a New York sound meeting Florida players on a Tampa stage.

The concert is free, and since it's open to the public, you don't need to be affiliated with the university to catch it. It's a single hour of music, 7:30 PM to 8:30 PM, at the Charlene A. Gordon Theater in the Ferman Center for the Arts.