Fans of jazz, flamenco, soul, pop, folk and Latin music are in luck tonight as Raul Midon will headline this week’s Nightfall series at Miller Plaza.
Born in New Mexico to an Argentinean father and a black mother, Midon grew up listening to Beethoven and Mozart, as well as Miles Davis and Sonny Rollins.
“We were the kind of family who would put on a record and sit and listen to it, not have it play in the background and go about our business,” Midon said in his online biography. “It was like an event.”
His twin brother is an electrical engineer working for NASA.
Blinded as infants, both were born prematurely and placed in an incubator without eye protection.
Midon attended the University of Miami where he studied music. He quickly became an in-demand backup singer for acts like Ricky Martin, Shakira, Julio and Enrigue Inglesias and Alejandro Sanz.
After moving to New York, Midon worked to perfect the guitar-playing style and improvisational mouth-horn technique that helped set him apart from other club performers.
“I took on this warrior approach to playing guitar,” Midon says. “Like a ‘You have to pay attention to this because you’ve never heard or seen anything like it before’ kind of thing.” If You Go
What: Nightfall featuring Raul Midon. Butch Ross will open.
When: 8 tonight. Opener is at 7 p.m.
Where: Miller Plaza, M.L.K. Boulevard and Market Street.
Admission: Free.
Phone: 265-0771.