July/August 2000

Milton Cardona
Cambucha (Carmen)
American Clave

By Josef Woodard

New York percussionist Milton Cardona is a more mystical figure in the ranks of percussionist-leaders working at the juncture of jazz and Latin concepts, as heard on his first solo album, Bembe, and Cambucha (Carmen), the follow-up. Cardona and a percussion-rich entourage, also including Michael Brecker and bassist Andy Gonzalez, create a kind of ambiguously allusive musical narrative (i.e., poetry in motion).
The curveball track here is the humble doo-wop lark of "A Kiss," an excusable, candied anomaly in an otherwise hypnotic musical flow.