Jesse Varela
Jesse’s Contributions
March 2002 Albums
Alma de Santiago
Jane Bunnett
Leave it to Canadian Jane Bunnett to continuously discover something new and beautiful in Cuba. Why not? Long before Ry Cooder created global Cuban fever with the phenomenon of the Buena Vista Social Club, this acclaimed flutist and soprano saxophonist had...
December 2001 Albums
Supernova
Gonzalo Rubalcaba
Pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba, blessed with impeccable technique and soulful ideas that draw from the Cuban traditions and the contemporary harmonies of jazz and classical music, is at a new plateau in his career with Supernova. The CD is a stellar mix of updated...
November 2001 Albums
The International Conspiracy
Greg Ribot and Cumbia del Norte
The original idea of cross-pollinating Colombian cumbia grooves with jazz belongs to Charles Mingus. His large ensemble experiment Cumbia and Jazz Fusion (Atlantic) shows the imagination of his genius. It's not known how Mingus heard this South American...
November 2001 Features
Poncho Sanchez: Straight Up
It’s a semi-cool Northern California evening in late July on opening night of the Fujitsu-Concord Jazz Festival, a musical celebration under the stars at Chronicle Pavilion, the mega-amphitheatre at the foot of Mt. Diablo in the San Francisco suburb of Concord...
October 2001 Albums
Branching Out (Expandiendo Raices)
William Cepeda and Afrorican Jazz
On the second outing with his group Afrorican Jazz, trombonist/conch-shell player/bandleader William Cepeda once again seeks to marry jazz with the traditional beats and textures of Puerto Rico. Building on ideas molded on his previous release, My Roots...
October 2001 Albums
L.A. Meetings
Arturo Sandoval
What can I tell you about Arturo Sandoval that Andy Garcia hasn't? If you're a fan of the Cuban trumpet king, this 1989 session, L.A. Meetings, is a sterling example of the fire blazing from Sandoval's horn the year prior to his defection; it has gone unreleased...
October 2001 Hearsay
Julio Padrón
Cuban trumpeter Julio Padrón’s laid-back music weaves jazz, classical and Afro-Cuban popular sounds into its fabric, which can be heard on two impressive new releases. Descarga Santa, on the Swiss label RealRhythm, is a live jam billed to Julio Padrón y...
September 2001 Hearsay
Vinicius Cantuária
The early ‘60s bossa-nova movement was a mesh of breezy Brazilian jazz and playful poetics that painted images of the “Girl From Ipanema.” While bossa nova defined the South American nation for many, it was criticized in Brazil for its passive escapism during...
July/August 2001 Albums
New Congo Square
Irvin Mayfield/Bill Summers Los Hombres Calientes
What Los Hombres Calientes-percussionist Bill Summers and trumpeter Irvin Mayfield-does on its third latest release is connect the dots between what New Orleans' fabled Congo Square once was and has become. They reopen a musical bridge between New Orleans...
June 2001 Albums
Invitation
Roberto Carcasses
I love it when drummers become pianists because they bring a propulsive charge to the instrument. Just listen to how Eddie Palmieri, Omar Sosa and Roberto Carcasses manage meter and time. Carcasses, a conservatory-trained percussionist from Cuba, makes his...
June 2001 Albums
Having to Ask
Deanna Witkowski
Deanna Witkowski is a vibrant young pianist now based in N.Y.C. Her debut release, Having to Ask, presents a clear musical vision that fuses straightahead jazz with a variety of Latino and Afro grooves. Jonathan Paul and Rob Amster (bass), Tom Hipskind...
May 2001 Albums
Mambo Jazz
Bobby Matos/John Santos
Who invented the mambo? Most say it was Perez Prado, who in the 1940s was called the king of the mambo with pop hits like "Mambo #5" and "Mambo #8" that sparked an unprecedented wave of Latin dancehall fever. A big misconception is that mambo is a rhythm...
May 2001 Albums
Los New Yorkiños!
Manny Oquendo and Libre
As the chorus of one song states: "En la salsa de Nueva York como Oquendo y Libre no hay dos!" Translation: "In New York City salsa nobody equals Manny Oquendo and his crew!" Given his legendary status and longevity as a percussionist, it's true that for...
April 2001 Hearsay
Jack Costanzo
San Diego’s early ’90s groove-jazz movement rediscovered Mr. Bongo, as Jack Costanzo is known, and he began to sit in with The Greyboy All-Stars and B-Side Players. With his 2001 release Back From Havana for CuBop, Ubiquity’s jazz-Latin subsidiary, the 78...
December 2000 Albums
Live at the Blue Note
Paquito D'Rivera
This remote recording at New York City's Blue Note club captures a unique moment in the career of Paquito D'Rivera, one of the premier reed stylists of the last 30 years. With Dario Eskenazi (piano), Diego Urcola (trumpet), Oscar Stagnero (bass), Mark Walker...
December 2000 Albums
Spain
Michel Camilo/Tomatito
Ever since Miles Davis did "Concierto de Aranjuez," with those gorgeous Gil Evans tapestries, aficionados have come to know the shared harmonic feeling between flamenco and jazz. Spain, the stirring duet album by pianist-composer Michel Camilo and Spanish...
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