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.
Michael Simon: Asian Connection
It’s easy sometimes to forget that the extraordinarily-gifted trumpeter and flugelhorn-player Michael Simon came from Venezuela. He has been making a living out of...
Phil Marucci: Next Stop Brazil
You would be forgiven if you thought you were listening to a Brasilian while playing Next Stop Brazil by Phil Marucci. The Portuguese is...
Coro Del Mundo
L. Peter Deutsch - 1: Dance to the Revolution, 2: Where Everything is Music; Conrado Monier - 3: Canto del Bongó; Adalberto Álvarez -...
Spanish Harlem Orchestra: Anniversary
For the last fifteen years few music ensembles have dominated the world of salsa like the Spanish Harlem Orchestra. So, it was only fitting...
Elio Villafranca: Epic Journey in search of Cinque
There has always been a healthy restlessness to Elio Villafranca. When I spoke to him in February 2015 he was about to debut a...
Elio Villafranca: Cinque
The record package itself for Cinque is modest, but oddly impressive; its black cover has the title and Mr Villafranca’s name hand lettered across...
Bobby Sanabria: West Side Story (Reimagined)
Jerome Robbins’ seminal story of danger and the triumph of love, West Side Story inspired by William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet has been...
Orquesta Akokán – Canta José “Pepito” Gómez
It takes more than academic proficiency in music to arrive at the source of its splendour and few American musicians know that better than...
Bobby Valentin & The LJs: Mind of a Master
One of the most iconic images of the Tropical/Salsa genre has been the fiery fingers of Bobby Valentin attacking the fret board of his...
Spanglish Fly: Ay Que Boogaloo
Jonathan Goldman is a proverbial renaissance man who has a doppelgänger -like kinship with James Joyce, but his specialisation is even more unique. He...
Adam O’Farrill’s Stranger Days: El Maquech
Perhaps the best raison d’être – albeit in a wonderfully twisted sort of way – is that it is “tethered to nothing”. This is...
Dafnis Prieto Big Band: Back to the Sunset
That Dafnis Prieto has undertaken an epic musical voyage is clear from the music on this disc. Back to the Sunset, is the culmination...
Chano Domínguez: Prism of Duende
Some twenty-eight minutes into our conversation Chano Domínguez lets me go gently. “Raul, I have to let you go,” he tells me, “But you...
Dafnis Prieto: To the Sunset… and Beyond
Of the many – and often chameleonic – ways to describe the music of Dafnis Prieto the word “questing” comes to mind most often...
Berta Moreno: Little Steps
Berta Moreno’s dream of coming to America, which she mentions in her impassioned notes that accompany the disc entitled Little Steps, have come true...
Valeria Matzner: Anima
Looking at the package for this album by the Uruguayan-born Canadian musician Valeria Matzner one might be tempted to think that the eight songs...
Pedro Giraudo: Córdoba to Köln via New York
Depending on where you come from Martha Argerich may be the greatest Argentinean icon. Some say Juan and Evita Perón are, but culturally speaking,...
Andrea Brachfeld: If Not Now, When?
The flutist Andrea Brachfeld has made a glittering career for herself on the Latin Jazz circuit, including performances with Dave Valentin and significant recordings...
Yoel Diaz Cubarteto: Occasion
To Yoel Diaz, like most Cuban musicians, who were born and grew up after 1964, Jazz was probably forbidden fruit because not much of...
Victor Assis Brasil: Esperanto / Toca Antonio Carlos Jobim
The first point worth making is that Roberto Quartin’s 1970 recordings of Victor Assis Brasil Esperanto and Toca Antonio Carlos Jobim (now combined by...