January/February 1997

Bobby Matos
Footprints
Cubop

By Tony Green

Percussionist Bobby Matos' shaken 'n stirred recastings of familiar material highlight Footprints (Cubop, CBCD005, 52:42). The approach, like the material, is nothing new: straight-ahead jazz stripped down and rebuilt from a percussion-heavy Afro-Cuban base. Familiarity hardly breeds contempt in this case, as Matos and his Afro-Cuban Jazz Ensemble ride through a collection of standards ("Footprints," "Naima") and originals, like "Kimbisia."