Yamaha Drummer Joe McCarthy Nominated for Latin Grammy

North Hollywood, Calif. (Nov. 3, 2008) — Yamaha Drums is proud to announce drummer Joe McCarthy, founder of the Latin jazz band Afro Bop Alliance, has been nominated for a Latin Grammy Award.

Afro Bop's recent collaboration with Mr. Samuels' Caribbean Jazz Project is competing with four others for the Best Latin Jazz Album. The ninth annual Latin Grammy Awards takes place in Houston on Nov. 13 and will broadcast live on the Univision Network at 8 p.m.

Joe, who fell in love with Latin jazz as a college student, plays seven different percussion instruments for the group that he leads and founded six years ago. Afro Bop is made up of seven musicians, five of whom play or have played for the military, including Joe, who is also the principal percussionist with the Naval Academy Band. Joe plays Yamaha Absolute Maple Acoustic Drums.

Recently Afro Bop announced the release of two play along books featuring music from the Grammy nominated album, which are being published by Alfred Publishing. Joe wrote the first book for Drumset and Percussion, and the second book was written by Dave Samuels for Mallets/C Instruments. Each book includes a play along cd and will be available for preview during the 2008 Pasic Convention, which takes place Nov. 5 - 8 in Austin, Texas.

Yamaha Drummer Joe McCarthy Nominated for Latin Grammy
— His jazz group Afro Bop Alliance is Up for Best Latin Jazz Album —