Luis Carlos Flores

Pianist Rodriguez serves up a panoramic view of Afro-Cuban music on this dizzyingly varied release. He uses different-sized lineups, but his literate, complementary piano playing is in the midst of it all. Some of the more prominent sidemen include trumpeter Jesus Alemany, saxophonist/percussionist Yosvany Terry, percussionists Tata Guines and Monguito, bassist Carlos Del Puerto, Jr., and, on loan from Orquesta Aragon, flautist Eduardo Rubio and violinists Dagoberto and Lazarito Gonzalez. Rodriguez contributes some writing and arranging. The album's most jazz-oriented number, "Tumbao a Peruchin," is an all-out descarga/jam composed by Rodriguez and featuring Peruchin Jr. on guitar. "Tumba, Mi Tumba," also composed by Rodriguez, is a Haitian francesa arranged and directed by Leonardo Alexander; dancing drums and Enrique Navarro's flute keep the pianist jumping on this number.

Firmly established as a national icon in Spain, due to her singing talent and recording career as well as her famed bloodline, Rosario took the time with her seventh album, Parte de Mí, to pay tribute to some of her greatest musical influences. Collaborating once again with producer Fernando Illán, a fruitful working relationship that goes all the way back to her debut album, De Ley (1992), Rosario handpicked 11 of her all-time favorite songs for Parte de Mí, an understated album on which contemporary pop flourishes are thankfully left alone.

On Nuevo, a collection of music from Mexico spanning nearly 100 years, Kronos Quartet presents a kaleidoscopic view of a music as diverse as the culture of the country itself. On each track, the group’s sound is transformed, through the collaborative efforts of co-producers Gustavo Santaolalla, the noted Argentinean musician and Rock en Español producer, longtime Kronos producer Judith Sherman, and Kronos Artistic Director David Harrington, as well as through arrangements by composers Osvaldo Golijov, Stephen Prutsman, and Ricardo Gallardo, whose efforts serve to reflect the individual spirit and character of each song.

ABUC is the 8th album by Roberto Fonseca hes released under his own name and the first to appear on the Impulse! label. Teeming with rascally rhythms and burly brass and woven from allusions, souvenirs and contrasts, ABUC is a kaleidoscope of dancing colors with which Roberto tells a story: the great and rich story of Cuban music, from yesterday to today.