It isn’t often that we play new music from the Dominican Republic…ok…we’ve never played brand new music from the Dominican Republic on our little jazz show, but with this episode we dive right into a new album from two Pavel’s, both from the Dominican Republic!

De Pavel a Pavel is an album full of new and exciting music written by Pavel Núñez (Nominated 5 times for a Latin Grammy) and Indianapolis fiery pianist and band leader Pavel Polanco-Safadit. Recorded in Indianapolis and featuring many stalwarts of the Indianapolis scene including the horn section of David Allee (trumpet), Rob Dixon (tenor sax), Richard Dole (trombone), bassist Steve Dokken, vocalist Leah Crane, and percussionists Matt McGraw, Andre Rosa Artis.

We have a great time speaking with Pavel Polanco-Safadit and Leah Crane about this album and about their work with the band Pavel and Direct Contact.

Here’s a video from November of 2024 that will give you a brief look into the work that Pavel Polanco-Safadit does: