Q.O.S. BAND performs at TETUAN, the NEW PLACE FOR JAZZ ON MIAMI BEACH
By Linda Novit

Manager DAVID HERMIDA gave me a warm welcome as I entered TETUAN on Wednesday night on the S.W. corner of Normandy Circle. "If your sitting in you have a drink on the house!" he said. "I'm just hangin' with the band" which I did. The guys were having a bite to eat before "down time" They said the food was great, so I decided to try an appetizer. Around came sweet
waitress MARI and recommended the CHEESE CALAMARI. It turned out to be baked calamari with two cheese sauces, roquefort and swiss served beautifully in a mini iron pan. SCRUMPTIOUS! WaXXXXX down with a glass of house white. Now, to the band!

Q.O.S. (Quintero,Orta,Simpson) is guitarist Leo Quintero's brainchild. The band has been together since February. Each of them, Nicky Orta on bass and Ernesto Simpson on drums is a soloist in his own right with an impressive background of education and touring with jazz greats. Why, NICKY was even in my band in the 80's before joining ARTURO SANDOVAL and others. Nicky's greatest influences he tells me were Jaco Pastorious, Eddie Gomez and Stanley Clarke.Nicky was born in Las Vegas.

Ernesto Simpson, from Camaguey, Cuba spent a lot of time listening to V.S.O.P., Miles Davis quintett with Tony Williams on drums, Ron Carter on bass, Freddie Hubbard on horn and Herbie Hancock on piano. His favorite drummers also include Jack de Johnette, Peter Erskine, Elvin Jones, Jeff Watts, and Vinnie Colaiuta.

Leo Quintero, from Venezuela told me "When I first heard Mike Stern on a gig with Mike Matheny (Pat's brother), well when I heard those changes, it changed my life! He also enjoys listening to Scott Henderson.

All three of the musicians enjoy sharing their knowledge and are known to give jazz clinics world-wide as well as teach. They have plans to give a latin jazz clinic in Boston in the near future.

They started the evening with their version of "INVITATION" playing it in "swing". I could hear the STERN influences in Leo's playing. At once you could see that these were world class musicians! Miami does have a music scene, we just need more places to play. PEDRO HERMIDA sais he's trying to do something about the lack of "live" music TETUAN is hosting JAZZ JAM
SESSIONS every Wednesday night from 9PM-1AM. It's located at 940 71st Street. Call 305 868 8887. Back to "Invitation" The three soloed beautifully, showing their prowess and emotion, then continued with "Stolen Moments", niceand laid back. Relaxed but tight. Great sound! Then some counterpoint between bass and guitar made it even more interesting. You could here Jaco's influence in Nicky's playing as well as all kinds of influences in Ernestos', yet all three were very
much their own and full of surprises. I found myself yelling YEAH! every now and then. They followed with "April", very uptempo, going from swing to latin. Then a change of pace to Toots Thielman's "BLUESETTE", the waltz starting slow and then Nicky and Ernesto turned into a train behind Leo until suddenly they were light as air as Nicky soloed and the song continued
light until they fell into an afro-beat and faded out ending with the ring of a cellphone, perfect.

The second set started out rather funky, a little jazz fusion. "SCRAPPLE FROM THE APPLE" Nickywas really inspired, perhaps by the arrival of one of his students, Carlos Angrita, who was awestruck. Anyway Nicky played his buttocks off, raising applause from the whole room as he soloed! Ernesto in his turn turned up the heat and it got to Leo. Bravos rang through the room. Then they got laid back with Henri Mancini's classic "Days of Wine and Roses". Leo bluesed it up a bit. These standards, it's amazing what different musicians can do with them and you can never tire of hearing them, always renewed!

One of my favorite songs followed, "PORK PIE HAT" by Charles Mingus. Slow and bluesy. Just then PEDRO chose to introduce me to HERMILIO who plays at the restaurant on Fridays and Saturdays with the LATIN SOUL BAND. They play variety. Nice guy. Let's get back to the JAZZ! I had missed most of "Seven steps to heaven" maybe I caught two of them So I caught "Straight, no chaser" since it looks like I'll have to take Giant Steps to heaven now anyway.

What can I say, the band is cool, very hip. Come check them out or your missing a really enjoyable musical evening!