Raul da Gama
Canadian writer. Based in Milton, Ontario, Canada, Raul is a musician and an accomplished writer whose profound analysis is reinforced by his deep understanding of music, technically as well as historically.
Marlon Simon: Rumba a la Patato
There are many reasons why it is a remarkable travesty of justice that the celebrated Venezuelan drummer and percussionist, Marlon Simon, has had to...
Señor Groove: Little Havana
The real Cuba may be just about ninety miles away from the tip of Florida, but where Señor Groove come from, in Miami, there’s...
Gregor Huebner: Los Soñadores
To listen to the voice of The Dreamers struggling against a manic administration in the 2019 White House is not too much to ask...
Rafael Zaldivar: Consecration
This album from the Quebec-based Rafael Zaldivar entitled Consecration is completely sonically apposite to almost anything Afro-Cuban you might be used to listening to....
Various Artists: The Complete Cuban Jam Sessions
There is much anecdotal evidence – some of it apocryphal – that the Cubans brought a diabolical complexity to Jazz when the musicians among...
Ray Barretto: Standards Rican-ditioned
This album Standards Rican-ditioned by Ray Barretto has a very special – albeit tragic – place in the history and in the everlasting...
Felipe Salles: The Lullaby Project
When you are so perfectly attuned to your ancestry and your culture as Felipe Salles is then you are halfway to producing the most...
Gastón Joya: Mama Ina
A fierce energy leaps out of the opening notes of Mama Ina, the exquisitely-crafted debut album by the prodigiously-gifted bassist Gastón Joya. It is...
Omar Sosa & NDR Big Band: es:sensual
Everything about the music of Omar Sosa seems not only to say that “Tradition is a wonderful reality,” but also something else: “not understanding...
Joaju Cuarteto: Ahoraite
Few recordings that have come out of the pen of (and performances by) Paraguayan musicians have captured the frenetic effervescence of Ahoraite by the...
Espontáneo: The Abdala Sessions
Espontáneo or spontaneity is the key reason why the world falls in love with Afro-Cuban music. From the trova tradition through to performances of...
Magela Herrera: Explicaciones
Some of us are familiar with the prodigiously gifted Magela Herrera from her virtuoso flute playing on the recording I’ll See You In Cuba...
Carlos Henriquez: Dizzy con Clave
Carlos Henriquez may not be the first to (rightfully) pay tribute to Dizzy Gillespie nor will he be the last. But his is a...
Alfonso Fuentes: PLENA – improvisaciones para piano
Alfonso Fuentes is better known for his classical work that has been performed – and recorded – by musicians of some of the most...
Vocal Universo: Música Universal
Even in the #MeToo era it is still hard for women in music to attract the spotlight. Add to that the fact that it’s...
Jovino Santos Neto Quinteto: Por Causa de Você
This music is collected from a stage performance at the Triple Door in Seattle, Washington in 2015, held by the distinguished Brasilian composer and...
Chucho Valdés: Jazz Batá 2
When Old Man Bebo first disappeared from music in Europe and before he was re-discovered again by Paquito D’Rivera, his son Chucho Valdés began...
Adriano Clemente: Cuban Fires
Continuing from where he left off in his journey through the ritual magic of the Afro-Cuban musical experience some two years ago Adriano Clemente...
Etienne Charles: Carnival – The Sound of a People Vol. 1
Etienne Charles has added an important opus to the literature of contemporary music with the release of Carnival – The Sound of a People...
Paquito D’Rivera | Harlem Quartet: Music in the Rarefied Realm
The triumphant journey through music by the inimitable Paquito D’Rivera brought him to Koerner Hall at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto on...