Papo Vázquez Mighty Pirates Troubadours

Papo Vázquez Mighty Pirates Troubadours is the working ensemble led by Puerto Rican trombonist and composer Angel Rafael “Papo” Vázquez, heard in New York City at Dizzy’s Club. Vázquez’s writing draws on jazz alongside Latin and Afro-Caribbean forms, and he is widely associated with the development of bomba jazz.

Papo Vázquez is a New York City–based trombonist, composer, and bandleader whose work moves between jazz harmony and Afro-Caribbean and Latin rhythmic lineages. Of Puerto Rican descent, he has been closely associated with the development of bomba jazz, using folkloric patterns as structural material rather than color.

Mighty Pirates Troubadours is the working ensemble led by trombonist-composer Angel Rafael “Papo” Vázquez, a Puerto Rican–descended bandleader associated with the early development of bomba jazz. The group’s sound threads modern jazz writing through Latin and Afro-Caribbean rhythmic practice, with Latin jazz also central to its repertoire.