Pianist Irving Flores to Release New Project “Armando Mi Conga” on Aug. 26th, 2025 | LISTEN!
“El Maestro” IRVING FLORES Readies Thrilling Afro-Cuban
Jazz Sextet Project
ARMANDO MI CONGA Arrives August 26 To All Streaming Platforms
8 1/2 Minute Title Track Arrives August 8 as Lead Single
Sextet Includes Legendary Musicians, Giovanni Hidalgo (Congas),
Brian Lynch (Trumpet), Horacio “El Negro” Hernández (Drums),
John Benitez (Bass) and Norbert Stachel (Sax, Clarinet, Flute)
October Shows Incl. San Diego Tijuana International Jazz Festival
+ Album Release Show in Los Angeles at Sam First
San Diego, CA: Acclaimed pianist, composer, and arranger Irving Flores is set to release his most ambitious project to date, ‘Armando Mi Conga’ (Amor de Flores Productions), available on CD and all streaming platforms beginning August 26, 2025.
A vibrant celebration of Latin Jazz and Afro-Cuban Jazz, the 9-song album blends virtuosity with soul — and features an all-star lineup of Grammy-winning legends.
“This is a love letter to Latin America,” says Flores. “It’s my journey and a tribute to the rhythms that shaped me.”
A compilation of eight original tunes with a bonus track, a solo piano version of centerpiece, “With Amanda en Favignana,” (written for his wife, Amanda while on holiday in Favignana, Italy, off the western coast of Sicily), Armando Mi Conga guides the listener on a thrill ride through different eras of Flores’s (El Maestro’s) life. The album will be preceded by the release of the title track as a single on August 8th.
Written in Mexico City, Flores composed the infectious tune for a dear friend and legendary conga player, Armando “Pinaca” Espinosa. “Pinaca” was to receive an award and recognition from an International LP company, and the very proud and excited Flores insisted such an occasion deserved an original composition. There’s a recorded big band version featuring “Pinaca” himself on the congas. On this version, Flores is delighted to feature one of his own musical inspirations and idols, the one and only Giovanni Hidalgo who provides a special rhythmic intro, a loving dedication to his father, José “Mañengue” Hidalgo.
“The composition I wrote in 1994 was now in the hands of the best percussionist in the world. One of the most exciting moments of my life with the most amazing musicians and stepping foot into the City that never Sleeps, to record with these giants. It was just an explosion of talent and happiness,” says Flores.
Born in Veracruz, raised in the Gulf of Mexico, Flores was immersed in the Afro-Cuban rhythms. Dancing in the kitchen with his grandmother to her collection of danzón records, Flores constantly breathed the sounds of Cuba. His father, founder of the Tampico Orchestra and leader of his own big band, toured the U.S., Central and South America, extensively. Flores’s childhood toys were instruments from his father’s trips abroad, his books and the charts his father would bring home from his global musical tours.
Living in a tropical climate, his first instrument was the organ and soon he would play the alto sax alongside his father and his project — the Irving Flores Super Combo band. At 16, he left for Mexico City to begin a life long journey that would ultimately lead him to the U.S. to pursue his own music.
In Mexico City, he attended the Music Conservatory, studied under the greatest of mentors, performed in famous ballrooms like Salon Colonia, appeared in concert at the majestic Bellas Artes, and eventually toured the world. Now based in San Diego, California, Flores continues to push musical boundaries and innovate within the jazz genre, contributing richly to its evolution, including through lively performances with renown trumpeter Gilbert Castellanos and reaching new audiences through his performances and recordings.
None more so than on his electrifying new opus. Recorded live in New York City during a pair of 10-hour sessions at East Side Sound in March of last year, Armando Mi Conga is a culmination of years of wisdom and experience, of sacrifice, dedication, discipline. Of love, of loss, blood, sweat, tears, and rebirth.
And he didn’t do it alone. Along for the supreme exaltation of joy are some legendary figures in jazz, including Giovanni Hidalgo (congas), Brian Lynch (trumpet), Horacio “El Negro” Hernández (drums), John Benitez (upright and electric bass), and Norbert Stachel on tenor sax, baritone sax, clarinet, and flute, showcasing Flores’s ability to bring together top talent to create truly spectacular music.
From his early beginnings as a child prodigy leading Orchestra Tamalipas to victory at the tender age of ten, to becoming a nationally treasured artist in Mexico, Flores’s journey has been nothing short of legendary.
From notable collaborations and performances with icons such as Poncho Sanchez, Airto Moreira, and the Spanish Harlem Orchestra, Flores’s skills as an arranger and producer shine through in projects like the acclaimed ‘Tribute to Frank Sinatra’ with the San Diego Symphony and his stirring arrangements for international stars like Luis Miguel.
The excitement continues this fall as Irving celebrates the release of Armando Mi Conga with special quintet shows at the San Diego Tijuana International Jazz Festival in San Diego (Oct. 2) and in Los Angeles at Sam First on October 4. Other appearances include performances in Tijuana, Mexico, at the Tijuana Jazz & Blues Festival (Oct. 5), San Jose (Hedley Club, Oct. 7), San Francisco (Mr. Tipple’s, Oct. 10) and Palo Alto (Meyhouse, Oct. 11) with more to be announced soon. For all the latest info, please visit irvingflores.com