Pancho Quinto: Rumba Sin Fronteras
Few drummers have had such a profound effect on Cuban music as Pancho Quinto. Superlatives are often risqué in music, but suffice it to...
Pérez Prado & Shorty Rogers: Voodoo Suite
Who knew that Dámaso Pérez Prado, the “Mambo King”, director of Sonora Matancera between 1936 and 1939, long before he formed his iconic mambo...
Michel Camilo: One More Once
When Michel Camilo recorded One More Once and released the record on Columbia in the Fall of 1994, it created quite a sensation. Not...
Frank Emilio, Guillermo Barreto y su Cuban-Jazz Combo: Drume Negrita
The clave that is pronounced in Afro-Cuban music is almost stealthily present in Jazz and has been lurking secretly in that idiom ever since...
Stan Getz-Charlie Byrd: Jazz Samba
The year 2014 marks fifty-two years after the classic album Jazz Samba, was recorded. There is a very good reason for the extraordinary longevity...
Mongo Santamaría: Mongo at The Village Gate
Mongo Santamaria, more than any other Cuban percussionist, has had a wider appeal across musical idioms and metaphors. His music comes from deep within...
Horace Silver: Song for my Father
Of all the iconic recordings of the 50’s and 60’s, Horace Silver’s Song for my Father will always be remembered as one of...
Tito Puente: The Best of the Concord Years
Producing a compilation of the music of someone like Tito Puente is no easy task. With scores of recordings where do you start? What...
Mongo Santamaria: Our Man in Havana
This superb music from 1956 has an odd footnote at the bottom of my copy, which says “Recorded under the personal supervision of the...
Hilton Ruiz: Heroes
Although the extraordinary pianist Hilton Ruiz made many superb recordings in his short career, none is more iconic than Heroes and it is not...
Paquito Hechavarría: Frankly
This album by the late pianist Paquito Hechavarría, Frankly was recorded in 2007 and released in 2009. Although it has been in circulation for just...
Paquito D’Rivera: Tico Tico
Nothing – and I mean nothing; no track list and probably no ensemble either – is more suitable to the emotional intimacy and urgency...
Art Blakey And His Jazz Messengers With Sabu: Cu-Bop
It is curious thing that this album is listed in very few biographical notes about the Jazz Messengers. Perhaps it is a small matter...
Wayne Shorter: Native Dancer
The ultimate expression of Wayne Shorter’s desire to make a “Brasilian” record is Native Dancer. However it is further from being a “Brasilian” record...
Ray Barretto: Time Was – Time is
The ubiquitous and colourful conga drum often resides in a cluttered space especially in Latin Jazz, a music that it seems to have shaped...
Herbie Hancock: Inventions & Dimensions
Herbie Hancock was just twenty-three when he recorded this Inventions & Dimensions. The music on the recording, and the fact that Mr. Hancock was...
Angá: Echu Mingua
This record Echu Mingua pays tribute to Miguel ‘Angá’ Diaz’s Yoruba deity. This prophetic return to his roots – he says in his notes,...
Al McKibbon: Black Orchid
Al McKibbon was one of the finest modern melodic bassists. The fact that he could play with the great Herbie Nichols will testify to...
Rumbajazz: Tribute to Chombo Silva
Chombo Silva performed in the legendary Cuban Jam Sessions and shared the stage with Machito, Ray Barretto, Johnny Pacheco, the Alegre-All Stars, Charlie Palmieri,...
Cachao: Master Sessions Volumes I & II
Israel “Cachao” López is one of those larger-than-life figures, a monumental Cuban musician. Although not as famous as Bebo Valdés, he was still one...
