MUSIC

Mexico-born vibraphonist and composer Victor Mendoza is considered to be one of today's finest Latin jazz artists. At this concert he will perform a newly developed dance music repertoire. Recordings and performances with Mendoza’s own group and with artists such as Paquito D'Rivera, Danilo Pérez, Michel Camilo, Claudio Roditi, and Antonio Sánchez, have earned him the respect of critics and fans around the globe. Black Bean Blues, his most recent CD, was named one of the best Latin jazz albums of the year by Modern Drummer. The Smithsonian included the album in Latin Jazz: The Perfect Combination, its first major exhibit about the genre. Mendoza, a Berklee professor with a reputation as a top educator, regularly conducts master classes around the world. He is releasing an educational DVD this fall.

From merengue and salsa to Afro-Cuban and Latin jazz, the fifth-annual Tito Puente Latin Music Series promises to heat-up two of Boston’s neighborhood public parks in July with danceable rhythms. The series — presented by Berklee College of Music; Villa Victoria Center for the Arts; and ParkARTS — features Berklee faculty, students, and guest artists hailing from various parts of Latin America, including the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, and Mexico.