Manny Escobar

Emmanuel "Manny" Escobar is a New England multi-instrumentalist and educator whose playing sits at the crossroads of jazz, R&B and Afro-Latin music. A Berklee-trained woodwind player who also works on guitar, bass and piano, he has spent well over a decade as one of the region's busiest sidemen, with credits alongside Esperanza Spalding, Reggie Workman, Louis Cato, Pentatonix, Thaddeus Hogarth and the Cesaria Evora Orchestra, plus a deep run of Cape Verdean and Brazilian sessions with Mayra Andrade, Tito Paris, Mika Mendes and Roberta Miranda. On his own bandstand he leads warm, groove-forward sets that lean on standards, soul-jazz and Latin rhythm, and he keeps a parallel life as a teacher and jam-session host.