The relationship between members of a band, especially one that’s lasted a long time, is like a marriage. Sure, there are stumbling blocks and disagreements, maybe worse, but at the end of the day, all parties understand that the union is significantly greater than the sum of its parts.
Case in point: La Lucha, the Tampa Bay jazz trio. John O’Leary (piano), Alejandro Arenas (bass) and Mark Feinman (drums) have been playing together for 20 years now. They’re each husbands, and fathers, and have individual interests, projects and goals.
Yet La Lucha remains.
The band’s newest album, Tides, represents a turning point. It’s the first set of tunes they’ve recorded since Feinberg and his family moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota in the late summer of 2025.
“We had no other plan than a couple of songs that we knew we wanted to record, and to just play through tunes that we enjoyed playing,” Feinman says. “No other pressure. No other sheet music, other than a couple of them that we wrote for the record.”
As a Yamaha-endorsed artist, O’Leary gets studio time at the instrument maker’s Franklin, Tennessee facility.
Through careful coordination, along with determination to make it happen, the three musicians rented an Air B&B near the studio to work together and focus. Feinman: “It was fun to have no other plan other than we want to hang out together, how can we make this a vacation and record music?”
After so long together, according to O’Leary, “We have a collection of tunes in our back pocket. That we hadn’t yet recorded. Documented, I think is a better term. Because all of what this is, is our just documenting where we are in our individual and collective journeys as a whole.
“We’ve each changed individually. And like any good relationship, you accept each other as you are. I think we’re each coming into our own, stylistically, and from each other’s artistic point of view. So we’re trying to combine three different artists together, and to create a unified message of some sort.”
Tides is an adventurous and enjoyable album, with La Lucha’s trademark blend of straight ahead jazz, R&B, standards and adapted covers.
Among the latter: Jimmy Webb’s “Wichita Lineman,” the Beatles’ “Golden Slumbers,” and a bouncy samba arrangement of Joe Jackson’s “Steppin’ Out,” featuring trombone from band buddy Wycliffe Gordon, and vocals by Tampa-based singer Allison Nash.
Other guests include singer Guianna and saxophonist Jeff Coffin.
Still, Arenas says, it was a low-to-no pressure environment.
“The magic of La Lucha happens when we are in a place playing together and we’re trusting each other. All the other albums we’ve done, we’d get together and rehearse, rehearse, rehearse, and try to get things as tight as possible. This one, we just said you know what, we have plenty of material to pick from – let’s just do takes and see what makes the album or not.
“And you can’t do that with just anybody.”
Among the original numbers, Arenas’ rollicking “La Cocina,” with its lead bassline, dancing piano and rhumba drums and percussion, is a textbook example of the sort of musical telepathy the three musicians have developed over two decades.
“That’s the best part, when you play something that you really enjoy,” O’Leary says. “And the three of us are in it, and we’re on the same emotional journey together.”
The musicians met as University of South Florida music students in 2005. O’Leary had arrived from his native Mexico as a 12-year-old, Arenas was only slightly older when his family left Colombia, and Feinman was born and raised in Clearwater.
They chose the name La Lucha (“The Struggle”) for their nascent trio and have been performing here (plus there, plus everywhere) ever since. As well as collaborating with other players.
“The cool thing is that when we play with other people, we’re growing individually,” Arenas observes. “And we bring that back into the group. When we get to do festivals and things like that, where we’re backing other people, it inspires us in different ways.
“La Lucha’s still the place where we all feel the most comfortable. There’s no better feeling than to be standing on a stage and playing this really adventurous music. Where things can go wrong easily, but knowing that you have, next to you, your best friends that you can trust to keep things musical and exciting. And fun.”
Meanwhile, John C. O’Leary III, PhD is currently volunteering at USF’s Parkinson’s Disease Movement Disorders Clinic, something he is particularly interested in. “My dream job,” he explains, “is to be a medical science liaison in neurology, neuroscience for a pharmaceutical company.
“While at the same time, keep the music going. I’ve always been a scientist and I’ve always been a musician. You can’t be a scientist part-time, but you can play music at night and on weekends.”
Since Feinman’s exodus to Minneapolis, the drummer/composer has returned to the La Lucha fold multiple times. The band played Florida, toured Mexico and the Pacific Northwest, then performed at the Suncoast Jazz Festival last November.
“The band,” Feinman offers, “has always been stronger when we lift each other up. If John is doing a solo piano record, Alejandro and I are going to be his biggest cheerleaders. When Alejandro gets a grant to put on a show, man, we’re the first ones there buying tickets.
“And when I decided my family and I were going to move to Minneapolis, the two guys, no matter how sad and I’m sure disappointing it was, were incredibly supportive.
“We just like making music together. When I get into the room with these two maniacs, it doesn’t feel like anything else.”
Stream or purchase Tides at this link.