<description>&lt;figure&gt;&lt;img width="600" height="400" src="https://i0.wp.com/newspack-thepublicsradio.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2025/07/William-Elio-Main-Image-NEW-600x400-1.jpg?fit=600%2C400&amp;amp;ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" fetchpriority="high" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/newspack-thepublicsradio.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2025/07/William-Elio-Main-Image-NEW-600x400-1.jpg?w=600&amp;amp;ssl=1 600w, https://i0.wp.com/newspack-thepublicsradio.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2025/07/William-Elio-Main-Image-NEW-600x400-1.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/newspack-thepublicsradio.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2025/07/William-Elio-Main-Image-NEW-600x400-1.jpg?resize=400%2C267&amp;amp;ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/newspack-thepublicsradio.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2025/07/William-Elio-Main-Image-NEW-600x400-1.jpg?fit=600%2C400&amp;amp;ssl=1&amp;amp;w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /&gt;&lt;/figure&gt; &lt;p&gt;The First Works Summer Beats concert series takes place at Roger Williams Park this summer with a variety of acts performing at the Boathouse Lawn every other week. This Friday, you can see The William Cepeda and Elio Villafranca jazz Sextet in a performance called “Merging Roots,” a collaboration exploring the shared African roots between Cuba, Puerto Rico and New Orleans. Morning host Luis Hernandez spoke with them for this week’s show.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Programming note: Artscape will be taking a break, so this is the last episode you'll hear for a while. But in the meantime, we’ll still be bringing you stories on arts and culture throughout the week. You can find our coverage at thepublicsradio.org/arts.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;The post &lt;a href="https://thepublicsradio.org/artscape/merging-roots-combining-cuban-puerto-rican-and-new-orleans-jazz-at-summer-beats/"&gt;‘Merging Roots’: Combining Cuban, Puerto Rican, and New Orleans jazz at Summer Beats&lt;/a&gt; appeared first on &lt;a href="https://thepublicsradio.org"&gt;TPR: The Public&amp;#039;s Radio&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt; </description>

Artscape

The Public's Radio

‘Merging Roots’: Combining Cuban, Puerto Rican, and New Orleans jazz at Summer Beats

JUL 10, 20251 MIN
Artscape

‘Merging Roots’: Combining Cuban, Puerto Rican, and New Orleans jazz at Summer Beats

JUL 10, 20251 MIN

Description

<figure><img width="600" height="400" src="https://i0.wp.com/newspack-thepublicsradio.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2025/07/William-Elio-Main-Image-NEW-600x400-1.jpg?fit=600%2C400&amp;ssl=1" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" fetchpriority="high" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/newspack-thepublicsradio.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2025/07/William-Elio-Main-Image-NEW-600x400-1.jpg?w=600&amp;ssl=1 600w, https://i0.wp.com/newspack-thepublicsradio.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2025/07/William-Elio-Main-Image-NEW-600x400-1.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/newspack-thepublicsradio.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2025/07/William-Elio-Main-Image-NEW-600x400-1.jpg?resize=400%2C267&amp;ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/newspack-thepublicsradio.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2025/07/William-Elio-Main-Image-NEW-600x400-1.jpg?fit=600%2C400&amp;ssl=1&amp;w=370 370w" sizes="(max-width: 34.9rem) calc(100vw - 2rem), (max-width: 53rem) calc(8 * (100vw / 12)), (min-width: 53rem) calc(6 * (100vw / 12)), 100vw" /></figure> <p>The First Works Summer Beats concert series takes place at Roger Williams Park this summer with a variety of acts performing at the Boathouse Lawn every other week. This Friday, you can see The William Cepeda and Elio Villafranca jazz Sextet in a performance called “Merging Roots,” a collaboration exploring the shared African roots between Cuba, Puerto Rico and New Orleans. Morning host Luis Hernandez spoke with them for this week’s show.</p> <p>Programming note: Artscape will be taking a break, so this is the last episode you'll hear for a while. But in the meantime, we’ll still be bringing you stories on arts and culture throughout the week. You can find our coverage at thepublicsradio.org/arts.</p> <p>The post <a href="https://thepublicsradio.org/artscape/merging-roots-combining-cuban-puerto-rican-and-new-orleans-jazz-at-summer-beats/">‘Merging Roots’: Combining Cuban, Puerto Rican, and New Orleans jazz at Summer Beats</a> appeared first on <a href="https://thepublicsradio.org">TPR: The Public&#039;s Radio</a>.</p>