Caldera was an American band that combined jazz,

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

, and rock with Latin music. Return to Forever and Weather Report influenced Caldera, but its members were also influenced by soul, Afro-cuban, salsa, samba, and Peruvian music.

Biography

Members of Caldera, which was led by keyboardist

Eduardo del Barrio Eduardo Gutiérrez del Barrio, known professionally as Eddie del Barrio, is an Argentinian composer, arranger, songwriter, and pianist. He is a founding member of the jazz fusion band Caldera. He has collaborated with Earth, Wind & Fire, Stan Ge ...

and guitarist Jorge Strunz ( Strunz & Farah), came from all over Latin America as well as parts of the United States. While bass player Greg Lee and saxophonist Steve Tavaglione were US born, other members were born in

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

(Strunz), Argentina (Del Barrio), Cuba (drummer Carlos Vega), and Brazil (percussionist Mike "Baiano" Azevedo). In 1976, Caldera signed with Capitol and recorded its self-titled debut album, which was followed by '' Sky Islands'' in 1977, '' Time and Chance'' in 1978, and '' Dreamer'' in 1979. Larry Dunn of Earth, Wind & Fire, co-produced Sky Islands. Caldera's song "Out of the Blue" reached position 95 on the

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Hot Soul Singles

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...

in January 1977. "Time and Chance" reached position 46 on the Billboard Best Selling Jazz LPs chart in October 1978. "Ancient Source" was sampled by American rapper Joey Badass on his song "95 Til Infinity". All but the band’s third album were reissued on CD. The band separated in 1979. However, most of Caldera's members kept busy long after its breakup. Strunz went on to form the guitar duo Strunz & Farah with Iranian/ Persian guitarist

Ardeshir Farah Ardeshir Farah ( fa, اردشیر فرح) is an Iranian musician and guitarist. Early life He was born in Tehran. Farah is half of the guitar duo Strunz & Farah. Career Farah's work in Strunz & Farah earned him a Grammy Award in 1991. His work ...

, while Del Barrio worked with artists such as Earth, Wind & Fire,

Stan Getz Stanley Getz (February 2, 1927 – June 6, 1991) was an American jazz saxophonist. Playing primarily the tenor saxophone, Getz was known as "The Sound" because of his warm, lyrical tone, with his prime influence being the wispy, mellow timbre of ...

and Dianne Reeves throughout the 1980s and 1990s.

Discography

*''

Caldera A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcano eruption. When large volumes of magma are erupted over a short time, structural support for the rock above the magma chamber is ...

'' (1976) *'' Sky Islands'' (1977) *'' Time and Chance'' (1978) *'' Dreamer'' (1979)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Caldera 1976 establishments in New York City 1979 disestablishments in New York (state) Capitol Records artists Jazz fusion ensembles Musical groups established in 1976 Musical groups disestablished in 1979