The Pedrito Martinez Group at The Falcon

"The Pedrito Martinez Group is the real thing. They had the club JUMPING! It made me feel like a teenager!" —Quincy Jones

“Pedrito is, almost impossibly, both a cosmopolitan entertainer and an authentic folklorist.... his musicality is just staggering." —Derek Trucks

"Writing a new chapter in Cuban music history" —NPR All Things Considered

“If anyone can move Afro-Cuban music [to] greater visibility, it’s Martinez” - The New Yorker

“…an incomparable performer.”- Ben Ratliff/New York Times

Born in Havana, Pedrito settled in NYC by 2000, where he received the Thelonious Monk Award for Afro-Latin Hand Percussion....

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"The Pedrito Martinez Group is the real thing. They had the club JUMPING! It made me feel like a teenager!" —Quincy Jones

“Pedrito is, almost impossibly, both a cosmopolitan entertainer and an authentic folklorist.... his musicality is just staggering." —Derek Trucks

"Writing a new chapter in Cuban music history" —NPR All Things Considered

“If anyone can move Afro-Cuban music [to] greater visibility, it’s Martinez” - The New Yorker

“…an incomparable performer.”- Ben Ratliff/New York Times

Born in Havana, Pedrito settled in NYC by 2000, where he received the Thelonious Monk Award for Afro-Latin Hand Percussion.
Martínez was a founding member of the highly successful, Afro-Cuban/Afro-Beat band, Yerba Buena, with which he recorded two albums and toured the world. Pedrito was featured in the film documentary, Calle 54. And his singing and percussion playing were featured in the 2011, Academy Award-nominated, Chico and Rita.
His career as a leader began in 2005 forming the Pedrito Martinez Group. Their Grammy-nominated first album was chosen among NPR’s Favorite Albums of 2013 and The Boston Globe Critics Top Ten Albums of 2013.
Habana Dreams, PMG’s second album, generated accolades to include #1 Latin Jazz Album in NPR’s Jazz Critics Top Jazz Albums for 2016 and being named anong Boston Globe World Music Albums for 2016.
He has recorded or performed with Wynton Marsalis, Paul Simon, , Bruce Springsteen, and Sting and has contributed, as a percussionist and vocalist, to over 50 albums.
Regular visitors to PMG gigs have included Roger Waters, Eric Clapton, Derek Trucks, John Scofield, Steve Gadd, Steve Winwood and Taj Mahal, to name a few.

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