If you can’t take a week off to visit the recently opened up country of Cuba, this concertwith Obert Davis leading the Chicago Jazz Philharmonic is a photo finish close second. Recorded at Chicago’s Auditorium Theatre, the music takes you through various side streets of sounds and flavors, with the sounds smoking like a Romeo e Juliet.
The “Havana Blue Suite” includes lusciously romantic piano and percussion by Leandro Lopez Varady and Jose Rendon and Suzanne Osman, with the sounds gliding along the dance floor. There are cozy segues of reeds on “Al Fin Te Vi” and “Orlando’s Walk” that create side bars for passionate pieces like “Havana @12.” Davis himself brings his warm trumpet over Stewart Miller’s irresistible pulse on a bona fide “Manteca” but that’s about the only reference to life in the upper 48, as sweaty tracks like “Seraphim” and a sauntering take of “Chega De Saudade” swoon with delight. This one’s a keeper, and the leader’s passion for the soul of Cuba exudes on every note.