Tum Milked

No matter where you look this year – at least in the realm of Latin-Jazz – you are unlikely to find a recording where the bass is played with greater melodic beauty than here on Bajo Mundo by the Puerto Rican musician Oskar Cartaya. It is also true that no attempt has been made to ‘lose’ the rhythmic role of the instrument – whether in its electric fretted or fretless incarnation, or as the more traditional contrabass. If anything Oskar Cartaya makes it a point to emphasise this rhythmic character. However, Mr Cartaya simply leans naturally towards melodicism and because he is so gifted his ability to present the bass as both a melodic and harmonic instrument as well is simply sublime, and, it becomes necessary to stress, that too in the kind of company he keeps on this recording.