This album is going to throw you for a loop. Ok, so the core members of Jorge Vallejo/g-acc-reeds-voc, Angel Hernandez/wwinds, Edgar Modesto/perc-voc, Kris Castro/key and Larry Harvey/perc claim to deliver “Pan Latin” music. But if it weren’t for my working knowledge of Spanish, I would have bet the farm that this was some and from West Africa. The lilting guitar sounds from Vellejo have that classic pencil thin prance, and the rhythms have a volcanic thickness that is more equatorial than Caribbean.
The unison vocals lead by Vallejo and Modesto are rich and earthy, while the intruiging percussive sounds delivered by Modesto on “Verde Monte”and “Gorditas” add a rural texture to the material. Hernandez’s rich horns go from Afro Cuban to hip hop to soul without missing a step, while Castro’s keyboards are rich and fervent as they support the singers, along with bacup vocals by Fernanda Ulibarri on “Bate.” There’s some exciting times here.