The Asere Tour brings Havana Cuba to Carmel.

While some are considering leaving the country, Havana All-Stars bandleader Michael Padron couldn’t be happier anywhere else.

“Just being here in the United States is incredible,” he says. “We never thought we would be here ever in our lifetimes.” Padron formed a band called Asere (“friendship” in Cuban slang) with three friends some 20 years ago in Havana. It was about the time that the Buena Vista Social Club burst into the American musical milieu with an eponymous album, movie and tour that took this country by storm with its tale of how the formerly free Havana jazz scene had been effectively silenced by Castro, only to triumphantly re-emerge 50 years later.

This, together with the U.S. and Cuba’s 2015 relaxation of travel restrictions, paved the way for this tour, which Padron says is an expansion of Cuba’s rich musical heritage. “We want to be true to our grandfathers who began this great music,” says the trumpeter, who lists Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie among his main non-Cuban influences, “but we also want to be relevant to today’s Cuban music.”

Based upon the traditional musical genre son cubano, the Afro-Cuban fusion sounds first became popular in the 1930s. The All-Stars, under Padron’s musical direction, now stir rhythms and melodies from contemporary Cuban music such as Habanera to create a relentless, rhythm-driven musical stew.

“The combinations of rhythms we use will make you want to dance, even in a theater,” Padron says. “It is very difficult to be still during our concerts.”

To his core four-piece group Asere, Padron has added a bevy of other talented players to form the All-Stars, who now number between 11 and 15. While their playing is energetic, it is also about passion. “Our music is either a love song or a dance song,” Padron says. Their balladeering is every bit as contagious as the rhythm numbers, with lush harmonies.

The Asere Friendship Tour is the Havana Cuba All-Stars’ first-ever U.S. tour and intends to celebrate the new open relationship between the U.S. and Cuba. “The music is in us. It is our heart, our soul,” Padron says. “It’s wonderful to be able to be here at the beginning of a new era of cooperation between our two countries. It’s special. I think you will be smiling when you leave the concert.”

THE HAVANA CUBA ALL-STARS 8pm, Thursday, Nov. 17. Sunset Center, San Carlos and Ninth, Carmel. $39-$59. 620-2048, www.sunsetcenter.org.