After 15 years the Spanish Harlem Orchestra‘s expertise and passion for tapping the exciting riffs and entrancing grooves of Latin jazz is unquestioned. When they make their Edmonton debut Wednesday, the only decision you may have to make is whether to sit or to dance.

“That’s a huge dilemma for me,” admits Oscar Hernandez, the SHO’s founder-pianist, and most frequent composer-arranger. “We’re mostly playing concerts and that’s my preference, but usually the complaint is, ‘we wanted to dance.’ It is dance music at its best, but for me it’s a lot more than that, so I would like people to sit and appreciate the artistic aspect of the music, too.”

He adds that by the end of most of their concerts “everyone is up dancing anyway.” Either way, the two-time Grammy winning SHO promises 13 seasoned musicians on a mission.