The flavors of Latin jazz is one of the long lasting influences to El Norte’s classical music. Here are some recent impressive samples.
Percussionist Sammy Figueroa leads an impressive team of Silvano Monasterios/p, Gabriel Vivas/b, Alex Pope Norris/tp, Troy Roberts/sax an dDavid Chiverton/dr through an impressive and exciting collection of band composed pieces. The grooves run deep with fragrant horns on “Bittersweet” and the assertive “Flow of the Universe.” Roberts’ tenor works well with Monasterios’ dancing ivories while the boss works overtime on “Mysterious Energy,” added by some nice guitar work by guest Chico Pinheiro. The horns make some bopping harmonies and accents, with guest Cisco Dimas bringing in his solo on “Bittersweet” and Hal Batt addingsynth work to the rivulet of rhythm on “The Jumping Blue Jay.” Exciting sparks flying around.
While also creating some rich musical sounds and rhythms, The Lula All Stars leans more towards mixing in vocals to the equation. Lead vocals by Ricardo Barboza, Luis Orbegoso/perc, Yosvani Castaneda and guest Yani Borrell are either in solo or chorus form,working well on the traditional sounding “Alala” and the salsa verde “Exceso De Informatcion.” The horn section of Chrisian Overton/tb, Jorge Maza/ts-fl and Alex Baro/tp slithers along “Cuando El Rio Suena” and the fluete gets festive on “Juan Candela.” Pablosky Rosales’ Tres Cubano is lithe on “ Mercedes” while a passionate solo by Overton highlights “Esto Es Canada.” Macho, macho, macho men!
Savant Records
Lulaworld Records