Pianist Bill O’Connell confirms my long held belief that Latin music saved jazz. From the begins of Jelly Roll Morton’s “Latin Tinge,” the groove from Central and South America as kept America’s classical music from descending into intellectual navel gazing and cacophony.
Here, he teams his trio of Lincoln Goins/b and Robby Ameen/dr with guests Randy Brecker/fh, Craig Handy/ts, Conrad Herwig/tb, Andrea Brachfeld/fl and Dan Carillo/g for a series of mixes and matches. Without any horns, Goins does some wonderful dancing on Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints” and lays down a lovely lilt for O’Connell on an evocative read of Tom Jobim’s “Zingaro” and sizzles on a salsa’d “Puttin’ On the Ritz” with Herwig’s fervent ‘bone. Carillo adds guitar effects on ‘Mom’s Song” and is gentle with some lovely touches by O’Connell on “Tip Toes.” The leader’s own “Quicksand” has some hip CTI soul keyboards teamed with Brachfeld’s floaty flute with a similar groove with Handy on “It’s OK” as Brecker glistens on “Goodbye My Friend.” Lots of Latin lovers on this collection.