Rebel Tumbao: Rebel Tumbao
If good musical art is meant to find the listener catching his or her breath at its beauty, it is also meant to pierce...
Benjamin Lapidus & Kari-B3: Ochosi Blues
From the earliest times of its existence—certainly during the 1700’s and the baroque era of Johann Sebastian Bach—the organ has been...
Dave Chamberlain’s Band of Bones: Caravan
Trombone choirs are few and far between. Good trombone choirs even less so and great ones almost non-existent. Some of the finest choirs...
Cuban Sax Quintet: Saxofones Live Sessions
Music played by ensembles comprising exclusively by saxophones became a phenomenon in Jazz with the World Saxophone Quartet. The group was founded in 1977...
Luis Muñoz with Lois Mahalia: The Infinite Dream
Luis Muñoz, one may recall, is a drummer who plays other instruments too. But that is only a part of the picture, as much...
César Orozco & Kamarata Jazz: No Limits for Tumbao
In his short note appended to the album No Limits for Tumbao, César Orozco makes a case for the generous helping of Cuban and...
The MSM Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra: ¡Qué Viva Harlem!
That the members of the Manhattan School of Music Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra has always been a group of jazz professionals masquerading is one of...
Pablo Ablanedo – Recontradoble
The beauty of ReContraDoble lies in its exquisite counterpoint that pits the brass against the woodwinds; the guitar against the piano with the drums...
Sorte! – John Finbury ft. Thalma De Freitas
Editor's Pick · Featured Album
Two albums into his worshipful “Brasilian sojourn” John Finbury has written six new songs that further declare his abject love...
The Luis D’Elias Ensemble: Orígenes y Destinos
This disc, Orígenes y Destinos , features Luis D’Elias on guitars, cuatro and the unusual Pentola. His extraordinary playing of every all instruments...
Luis Lascano: Some Trips
This album, Some Trips by Luis Lascano is a short one. This is a pity because the songs—every one of them—is beautifully crafted. They...
Emilio Solla Tango Jazz Orchestra: Puertos – Music From International Waters
Editor's Pick · Featured Album
Reviewing music can be a vexing experience. Often recordings that bode well on paper disappoint somewhat in reality. And then...
Mark Weinstein – Todo Corazón
Of all the magnificent aspects of The Tango, perhaps the most beguiling is its musicality. For instance, tango dancing has a unique freedom of...
Chick Corea – The Spanish Heart Band: Antidote
Editor's Pick · Featured Album
For young, aspiring pianists, Chick Corea and his music might easily be considered “essential study”. His breathtaking oeuvre offers so...
Enrique Rodríguez: Enriquito – Me Quito El Sombrero
Conventional wisdom might suggest that there can be no Spanish music—especially that, which derives from traditional Flamenco sounds—without the lead voice being a Spanish...
Yolanda Duke: Te Llevo Bajo la Piel
This recording Te Llevo Bajo le Piel brings together the last orchestra of the great Tito Puente waxing eloquent behind one of the El...
Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis: Live in Cuba
We hear so much big band music these days that we may be at risk of forgetting where the priceless modern day markers really...
Pete Rodriguez: Caminando con Papi
It is probably unfair to compare the younger Pete Rodriguez to his father Pete “El Conde” Rodriguez, who was a fascinating figure in another...
Benjamim Taubkin + Adriano Adewale – The Vortex Sessions
It is sometimes by pure happenstance that musicians happen to be in the right place, with the right vibrations swirling between them and in...
Paul Carlon – La Rumba is a Lovesome Thing: A Tribute to Billy Strayhorn
What on earth would Billy Strayhorn think of La Rumba is a Lovesome Thing? It is, after all, a somewhat irreverent tribute—the music is relocated from its original big band setting into the Latin realm...