Juan Carlos Formell and Johnny's Dream Club from the Monterey Jazz Festival

The Cuban guitarist has been based in the U.S. for nearly two decades. He still sings in Spanish almost exclusively, and his imagination is vivid as he conjures Johnny's Dream Club as a venue -- perhaps a romantic, divey haunt -- in a long-lost New Orleans. With some of New York's top Latin jazz musicians to fulfill his vision, Formell sits at the center, singing and strumming.