Afro Disia

Chucho Valdes, Cuba's most famous jazz musician, has rebalanced the repertoire of his Afro-Cuban Messengers on Border-Free, mixing its American-jazz agenda (the group's name deliberately references both Valdes' roots and the late Art Blakey's classic soul-bop Jazz Messengers group) with more extended Latin-American input, and some Native American and Andalusian connections, too. Saxophonist Branford Marsalis, guesting on three tracks, is warmly romantic on tenor on the loping Tabu, agile and fluent on the Cuban dance-shuffle Bebo, and mercurial on a soprano-sax break full of north African microtonalisms on the hurtling, horn-hooting finale, Abdel.

Massimo Faraò (piano), Nicola Barbon (bass), Roberto "Bobo" Facchinetti (drums) and Ernesttico (percussions), featuring Davide Palladin on jazz guitar. Recorded at Riverside Studio in Torino on December 16th, 2019.
Massimo Faraò is a wonderful Italian pianist who has played and recorded with Red Holloway, Albert "Tootie" Heath, Tony Scott, Franco Ambrosetti, Nat Adderley, Jeff Tain Watts, Jack DeJohnette and Chris Potter, among others. Farao's passionate style and stoic romanticism are very attractive along with the rich harmonies he creates.

Music is one of the most magical of all the arts. It can, by its mere sound, excite the body to such an extent that it leaps up and dances - in most cases instinctively; with eyes closed it can suggest a palette of a myriad colours; and by its sheer mystical nature music can heal the body and the mind of many ailments. Bobby Matos’ music does all of this and some more. It helps pay homage to the soul and the spirit. This is once again evident in the music of Mambo Jazz Dance. There is an inherent energy that converts musical notes here that drives the mind into a state of trance where it seems to become a kind of crucible into which the mambos and the boleros of Mr. Matos pour themselves, stirring the mind into an interminable dance. The exciting aspect of this musical unguent is that it is invisible and soon fills all parts of the body, awakening it and pushing it into an ebullient mambo, no less…

After not having led a recording session under his own name in 29 years, O'Farrill came from seemingly out of nowhere to lead a terrific Afro-Cuban big band date on this CD. O'Farrill claims that he turned down offers to lead standard seven or eight-piece salsa bands on records over the years, preferring to wait until a big band opportunity came along - and clearly, he was bursting with accumulated charts dating from the 1960s through the 1990s. Not too much has changed since O'Farrill's exciting string of albums for Clef in the 1950s; if anything, his arranging hand has become surer, more sophisticated, thoroughly in touch as ever with a wide variety of influences…

Time is Now is like a delightful summer breeze, a refreshing album that recreates with absolute freedom some of the most excel and refined Latin American and classic repertoire. Mario Bauzá made it possible with that characteristic sound, filled of Latin flavour and vigorous radiance that will captivate you from the first track. You won't believe the mesmerizing adaptation of "Mack the Knife", for instance. Don't let this album pass in front of you. Go for it and enjoy it forever.