Javier Quinones
Javier’s Contributions
September 2003 Albums
Bringing the Flame Home: From Havana to Africa
Asante
Questionable claims from the liner notes aside, such as the unproven notion that the Cuban guaguanco can be directly traced to the Ghanaian agbadza, that rumba-which is a family of rhythms rather than just one-has some demonstrated connection to "the more...
September 2003 Albums
Ritmo Caliente
Eddie Palmieri
Eddie Palmieri's current refashioning of the 40-plus-year-old style that started his career as a leader with the group La Perfecta enters its second phase with this release. After last year's La Perfecta II, the pianist returns with further bravura and street...
September 2003 Albums
Spirit! The Power of Music
Randy Weston African Rhythms Quartet and the Gnawa Master Musicians of Morocco
In the fall of 1999, at Brooklyn's Lafayette Presbyterian Church, Randy Weston's African Rhythms Quintet & the Gnawa Master Musicians of Morocco-from both Marrakech and Tangier-were recorded live. Their performance opens with a piano tripartite cogitation...
July/August 2003 Spheres
Malicool
Roswell Rudd/Toumani Diabate
Ever probing and self-demanding, Roswell Rudd fulfills an African dream of his in the Confluence Series title Malicool for Sunnyside. Malian kora master Toumani Diabate, in turn, adds an earthy harpesque character to Rudd's fulsome grittiness throughout...
July/August 2003 Spheres
Cuban Jazz: Alfredo Rodrîguez y Los Acereko
Alfredo Rodrîguez
Credit Alfredo Rodriguez for leaving the Big Apple for the City of Light in 1985 after imprinting his tight, swingingly polyglot piano playing on New York's escalating Latin dance scene of the '60s and '70s. Since, his flourishing as a leader is a remarkable...
July/August 2003 Spheres
Purple Cha Cha Heels
Brass Roots
Latin-inflected jazz does not rely much-if ever-on minimalist good-humored resources as a steering guide. Brass Roots does so in Purple Cha Cha Heels (Accurate) with just composer, arranger and trombonist Jim "Mondongo" Messbauer, Tim Mayer on baritone sax...
July/August 2003 Spheres
Afro-Cubism
Either Orchestra
The cubist reference in the title of the latest release of the idiosyncratic Either Orchestra is not accidental. Afro-Cubism (Accurate) forays into a Latinized jazz big band aesthetic with unusual power and expression. Numerous sides and sights from the...
July/August 2003 Spheres
Time to Play
Robert Jospé
Robert Jospe has one of those clean, spirited and tight-sounding jazz combos, with peppy assuredness, radiating enveloping healthy vibes belying the insufferable widespread practice of overplaying the Latin tinge. Time to Play (Inner Rhythm) is the drummer...
July/August 2003 Spheres
Isla
Mark Levine and the Latin Tinge
Isla (Left Coast Clave) is the third release of Mark Levine & the Latin Tinge. He is the author of two commended books on jazz piano and holder of credits with mainstream jazz figures and several Latin legends. Coupled with Michael Spiro on percussion, drummer...
July/August 2003 Spheres
Live!
Pete Escovedo
Pete Escovedo is the elder statesman of the premiere percussive Hispanic family in the U.S. Sheila E, Peter Michael and Juan joined Papi in a San Diego gig and the result is Live! (Concord), the first live recording by the distinguished timbalero in 15 years...
July/August 2003 Spheres
Pan Con Bistec
Bobby Ramirez
The publicity materials of Pan Con Bistec (Ritmo City) by composer, arranger, saxophonist and flutist Bobby Ramirez describe it as "an extraordinary fusion of world music with jazz influence." That is quite a stretch. There is absolutely nothing astonishing...
July/August 2003 Spheres
Los Hijos del Sol: To My Country
Alex Acuña/Eva Ayllón
Significant portions of Peru's musical spectrum are updated through Los Hijos del Sol: Alex Acuna & Eva Ayllon in To My Country (Nido). Wayne Shorter has uncharacteristically Peruvian divine interventions on soprano sax in "Surco" and "Un Barco Ciego." Paquito...
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