When the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez met with Barack Obama a few years ago, the world would have been better off if he had given our President a copy of this session by compatriot drummer Jose Duque than his socialist diatribe of a book. The Berklee alumnus leads a cooking team with Andy Greene/g, Rob Gerry/b, Marc McElroy/key and Matt Langley/sax while he drives the band like a man on a wagon train; coaxing the teammates along without overwhelming them, getting just the right amount of energy out of them.
A nice soulful groove permeates much of the material such as “Zamuro City” and the funky “Over By The Hill” with Langley’s tenor nice and beefy on the former. The bulk of the material features Greene’s lithe and sinewy guitar sounds, either on the moody “Fragility of Hope” (which has an intriguing string intro) or the seductive “Primal” which has an intriguing tension between the held back guitar licks and Duque’s percolating percussion. Some power trio work on “Human Culture” features conversant bass work, while some spacey keyboard sounds pop up here and there, most successfully on the ruminating “One Hot Summer Eve” with guests Rafael Paz/p and Jon Durant/g. Duque is also impressive as a composer, as a tune like “ Llevatelo” will burr under your mind after a couple of hearings, refusing to let go. Impressive export from Venezuela; get it before it’s nationalized!
www.joseduque-drums.com