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The band\u2019s newest album, Tides, represents a turning point. It\u2019s the first set of tunes they\u2019ve recorded since Feinberg and his family moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota in the late summer of 2025.<\/p>\nThe relationship between members of a band, especially one that\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
Case in point: La Lucha, the Tampa Bay jazz trio. John O\u2019Leary (piano), Alejandro Arenas (bass) and Mark Feinman (drums) have been playing together for 20 years now. They\u2019re each husbands, and fathers, and have individual interests, projects and goals.<\/p>\n
Yet La Lucha remains.<\/p>\n
The band\u2019s newest album, Tides, represents a turning point. It\u2019s the first set of tunes they\u2019ve recorded since Feinberg and his family moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota in the late summer of 2025.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe 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,\u201d Feinman says. \u201cNo other pressure. No other sheet music, other than a couple of them that we wrote for the record.\u201d<\/p>\n
As a Yamaha-endorsed artist, O\u2019Leary gets studio time at the instrument maker\u2019s Franklin, Tennessee facility.<\/p>\n
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: \u201cIt 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?\u201d<\/p>\n
After so long together, according to O\u2019Leary, \u201cWe have a collection of tunes in our back pocket. That we hadn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve each changed individually. And like any good relationship, you accept each other as you are. I think we\u2019re each coming into our own, stylistically, and from each other\u2019s artistic point of view. So we\u2019re trying to combine three different artists together, and to create a unified message of some sort.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tides is an adventurous and enjoyable album, with La Lucha\u2019s trademark blend of straight ahead jazz, R&B, standards and adapted covers.<\/p>\n
Among the latter: Jimmy Webb\u2019s \u201cWichita Lineman,\u201d the Beatles\u2019 \u201cGolden Slumbers,\u201d and a bouncy samba arrangement of Joe Jackson\u2019s \u201cSteppin\u2019 Out,\u201d featuring trombone from band buddy Wycliffe Gordon, and vocals by Tampa-based singer Allison Nash.<\/p>\n
Other guests include singer Guianna and saxophonist Jeff Coffin.<\/p>\n
Still, Arenas says, it was a low-to-no pressure environment.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe magic of La Lucha happens when we are in a place playing together and we\u2019re trusting each other. All the other albums we\u2019ve done, we\u2019d 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 \u2013 let\u2019s just do takes and see what makes the album or not.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd you can\u2019t do that with just anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n
Among the original numbers, Arenas\u2019 rollicking \u201cLa Cocina,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the best part, when you play something that you really enjoy,\u201d O\u2019Leary says. \u201cAnd the three of us are in it, and we\u2019re on the same emotional journey together.\u201d<\/p>\n
The musicians met as University of South Florida music students in 2005. O\u2019Leary 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.<\/p>\n
They chose the name La Lucha (\u201cThe Struggle\u201d) for their nascent trio and have been performing here (plus there, plus everywhere) ever since. As well as collaborating with other players.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe cool thing is that when we play with other people, we\u2019re growing individually,\u201d Arenas observes. \u201cAnd we bring that back into the group. When we get to do festivals and things like that, where we\u2019re backing other people, it inspires us in different ways.<\/p>\n
\u201cLa Lucha\u2019s still the place where we all feel the most comfortable. There\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, John C. O\u2019Leary III, PhD\u00a0is currently volunteering at USF\u2019s Parkinson\u2019s Disease Movement Disorders Clinic, something he is particularly interested in. \u201cMy dream job,\u201d he explains, \u201cis to be a medical science liaison in neurology, neuroscience for a pharmaceutical company.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile at the same time, keep the music going. I\u2019ve always been a scientist and I\u2019ve always been a musician. You can\u2019t be a scientist part-time, but you can play music at night and on weekends.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since Feinman\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe band,\u201d Feinman offers, \u201chas 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\u2019re the first ones there buying tickets.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd when I decided my family and I were going to move to Minneapolis, the two guys, no matter how sad and I\u2019m sure disappointing it was, were incredibly supportive.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just like making music together. When I get into the room with these two maniacs, it doesn\u2019t feel like anything else.\u201d<\/p>\n