Cajon Percussion

Is it jazz? Some of it is, but much of it isn't. Then what is it? The Ensemble FisFuz (for the purpose of pronunciation, there's an umlaut over the `u' in `Fuz') plays world music, an amalgam of sounds and themes from Spain and Portugal, the Middle and Far East, Mediterranean and Klezmer music, and, yes, with Trovesi several albums his affinity for folk music and a variety of popular forms. And as his marvelous duet albums with accordionist Giani Coscia (see esp. In cerca di cibo, 2000) have shown, he can improvise on almost any melody! Although he melds well with clarinetist Maye, and they do wonderful harmony and counterpoint passages together, it is easy to tell when Trovesi is in the lead -there is a bluesy tone to his clarinet, a way he skews notes as though swerving up to them at moments. Maye plays equally well -her clarinet solos sound `purer', as I just said, less blues-intonated.

Playing hand percussion and drum kit with a variety of different stars and lesser knowns, Acuna spans the breadth and depth of Latin-based rhythms from his native Peru through Cuba, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, and other South American locales. Notables Giovanni Hidalgo, Luis Conte, Anthony Carrillo, and Paoli Mejias join a varying sized cadre of singers and fellow percussion helpmates to stroll through this multi-cultural mosaic of percussive splendor. Of the smaller ensemble tracks, "Bemlerias" is a 6/8 song with electric bass and keyboards on the more contemporary side, while "L.A. Rap" sports Spanish trash talk, and the ten-minute "Descarga at Dawn" is the ultimate cha based workout for quintet with Acuna on the kit.

Cheikh Lo - Lamp Fall (2006) {World Circuit-Nonesuch 79938-2}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 351 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 123 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 34 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2006 World Circuit / Nonesuch | 79938-2
International / Afro-Pop / African Traditions / West African

Lamp Fall is the first international release from the Senegalese singer/songwriter and guitarist Cheikh Lô. Issued on World Circuit, it is a collection of traditional and original songs that heavily showcase his trademark mbalax drums, reggae grooves, and funky polyrhythms, with a host of colors and textures added by widely varying instrumentation. This time out, Lô goes to Brazil for inspiration – about half the album's tracks were recorded in Bahia. Lamp Fall's opener, "Sou," is a traditional song with a radically different arrangement.

”Huellas” tastes like Jazz and flamenco winds, it is full of freshness and vitality, and somehow, brings together leading composer with the distilled and concentrated Flamenco essence. An overview of this art seen from the outside to inside and from inside out. A flamenco feeling between the sound of a jazz band. A vision of improvisation with new references. Meeting and dispersion at the same compass. An execution for those who feel, breathe and know these fundamentals, which are none others than the deepest soul where there is no time or place.

With his explosive soloing and inventive five conga patterns, Cuban musician Miguel "Angá" Díaz was one of the world's great congueros. Echu Mingua, his debut album as a bandleader, is an innovative set. Angá saw this project as representing his journey in music—from learning at the feet of traditional rumba masters in his rural village, to joining the foremost experimental band in Cuba Irakere, his sojourns with innovative US jazz musicians Steve Coleman and Roy Hargrove, then back to his roots with the Afro-Cuban All Stars, Rubén González, and opening doors with the great Cuban bassist Cachaíto López.

Yusef Lateef, Adam Rudolph, Go: Organic Orchestra - In the Garden (2003) {Meta Digital Download, Bandcamp 16-44.1 rel 2018}
FLAC (tracks) - 16bit/44kHz - Official Digital Download (bandcamp.com) -> 604 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 242 Mb | Cover | 5% repair rar
© 2003, 2018 Meta Records | YAL 008
Jazz / Progressive Jazz / Creative Music / Experimental / Percussion

For this, the third concert recording of Go: Organic Orchestra, artistic director Adam Rudolph has reunited with longtime collaborator and mentor Yusef Lateef. Rudolph conducts the orchestra in an improvisational process, utilizing themes and cues he and Lateef have composed. From these compositional modules, Rudolph spontaneously constructs the sonic environments with which the soloists interact.

Cyro Baptista - Love The Donkey (2005) {Tzadik TZ 7614}
XLD rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 300 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 117 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 33 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2005 Tzadik | TZ 7614 | Tzadik Key Series
Jazz / Latin / Percussion / Avant Rock / Afro-Cuban Jazz / Brazilian Jazz / Ethnic Fusion

One of the most charismatic and versatile percussionists around, Cyro Baptista has worked with everyone from Herbie Hancock, Sting and Paul Simon to Phish, Laurie Anderson and John Zorn. Following up on his brilliant first CD for Tzadik Beat the Donkey, Cyro Baptista now presents us with his second release, appropriately entitled Love the Donkey.Featuring a wild band of percussionists, dancers and musicians in a varied program of songs and instrumentals, this is an intense CD, beautifully recorded by Jamie Saft at his Brooklyn studio, that captures all the fun and unpredictable excitement of Cyro’s astonishing live shows. Creative and colorful new music for the whole family to enjoy.

Various Artists - Miles Espanol - New Sketches Of Spain (2011) {2CD Set, eOne EOM-CD-2104, Miles Davis related}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 665 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 274 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 380 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2011 eOne Music | EOM-CD-2104
Jazz / Latin / Modern Creative / Fusion / Flamenco

Producer Bob Belden has turned reinventing the music of Miles Davis into a cottage industry, taking Davis to India for 2008’s Miles from India, and more recently Belden has given us Asiento, which re-imagined Bitches Brew as a slice of electronica. Now he gives us Miles Español, which finds Belden pairing veterans of Davis' various bands with musicians from Spain, Morocco, and Latin America on classic tracks from Davis' Sketches of Spain and Kind of Blue albums. Hearing Davis compositions with oud, bassoon, accordion, and bongos is certainly exotic and interesting, but one longs for the elegant, stately grace of the original albums.