High-octane Latin-fusion band returns for Tucson

They were a band that founder Jean-Pierre Durand calls a "tweener." Their music would be a perfect fit for a jazz festival one day, then they would find themselves on a bluegrass lineup.

"We do well in jazz clubs, but we don't do exclusively jazz clubs, and if there's a bluegrass festival, we'll be the guys that they invite because there's a lot of flash guitar playing, but it's not necessarily bluegrass," Durand said.

Incendio was exactly the sort of band the late Tucson concert promoter Jonathan Holden and his Rhythm and Roots series embraced, artists who might not otherwise find an audience.

And when Holden liked a band, he did everything he could to prop them up and introduce them to Tucson.

"There are promoters in the country like Jonathan Holden who was like, we're going to embrace something that's new, a little different," said Durand, who returns with the band on Friday, March 19, as part of Rhythm and Roots' 30th and final season.

Susan Holden, who took over the series after Holden died in 2012, announced earlier this year that she planned to end it by year's end. 

The concert at La Rosa, 800 N. Country Club Road, is Incendio's first here since 2016 and, by Durand's count, will be its fourth or fifth with Rhythm and Roots since their first in 2004.

Durand credited Jonathan and Susan with helping his band and others find audiences that would otherwise have never heard of them. 

"We connected really nicely with the Tucson audience and we did a number of shows (for) the Rhythm and Roots series," Durand said. "People like Jonathan and Susan certainly have been instrumental in bringing us and other people that would not have otherwise been out there."

Durand and his wife, the classically trained bass player Liza Carbe, formed Incendio in 1999 in Los Angeles with guitarist Jim Stubblefield. The group quickly gained a reputation in L.A. for its high-energy improvised shows that fused Latin, flamenco, jazz and Celtic with some Middle Eastern accents.

The band's original works, which Durand said have become their calling card in recent years, have a cinematic feel with compelling rhythms and a wonderful multilayered sound from the trio of guitars. 

In addition to bringing Incendio to Tucson, Holden was responsible for introducing the band to listeners in Flagstaff, Durand said. 

Friday's show begins at 7:30 p.m. with opening act Tesoro. Tickets start at $32.71 through larosatucson.org.