Gabriele Tranchina – A Song of Love’s Color (Jazzheads – 2010)

It appears that exacting pitch is not really important in the grander scheme of things, for Gabriele Tranchina’s singing. Although it seems likely that if she really wanted to this vocalist could nail the exacting pitch of the notes themselves with perfection, Tranchina eschews the exactitude of notation to scale impossible heights of emotion. In this respect she is like a storyteller who uses lyric passages to let tales of longing and other elusive emotions unfold [...]

Steve Pouchie – El Puente (The Bridge) (Self Produced – 2010)

It is altogether a special virtue to make an album that features music delightful to listen to as well as to feel an irresistible urge to get up and dance to when the first chords are struck. This is exactly what Steve Pouchie has done with El Puente. From the outset the vibraphonist draws a direct line in his musical lineage from Cal Tjader and Dave Samuels. There is that swaggering bluesy influence of Milt Jackson that may sometimes peep through [...]

Omar Sosa & NDR Big Band – Ceremony (Otá Records – 2010)

Omar Sosa inhabits two worlds. One in which all humans live and the other is the spirit world. On Ceremony (Music arranged by Jaques Morelenbaum) a record that he made with the NDR Big Band, he has opened the door to both worlds. Moreover, with Jaques Morelenbaum’s masterful arrangements of his (Sosa’s) music these worlds are that much closer. Sosa has been crossing the threshold between this world and the spirit one [...]

Hamilton de Holanda – Brasilianos 2 (Adventure Music – 2010)

The mandolin has barely evolved since its incarnation as a lute in Italy over three hundred years ago. A few more strings may have been added, so that there is now a ten-stringed version; tuning of these strings may have become more creative and different, but the instrument has remained essentially the same. Unlike the violin, its notes decay quicker after they are sounded and cannot usually be sustained after a point. But then you have musicians [...]

Ricardo Silveira – Até Amanhã (Adventure Music – 2010)

The music of guitarist Ricardo Silveira flows—especially on Até Amanhã/’Til Tomorrow–flows like an interminable river into the proverbial ocean of sound where a world of music mixes and mingles. Yet the idea that he is only marginally Brazilian is anathema. Silveira’s music ripples and gushes with a forceful swagger recalling, at times, the immensity force Rio Negro. That is when his phrases and lines bubble like with liquefying, steamy splendour [...]

Mark Weinstein – Timbasa (JazzHeads – 2010)

It would seem that there is no stopping flutist, Mark Weinstein. While the composer and instrumentalist extraordinaire may not have trumped his awe-inspiring expedition into the realm of improvisation, Tales From The Earth (Ota Records, 2009) his album, Timbasa has certainly turned out to be an alchemist’s dream. Who would ever have imagined that Miles Davis’ languorous performance of “Milestones” could be regenerated as an extravagant and masterful Afro-Cuban adventure? [...]

Luis Muñoz – Invisible (Pelin Music – 2010)

Luis Muñoz thinks with an open palette of sound. His vision of music is as sweeping as the eye can see and absorbs a wide spectrum of color and tone texture, from the sophisticated rough and tumble of the trance-like sound of Afro-centric worship music to the delightful swing of idiomatic phrases that spring from the joyous spirit of jazz [...]

Jane Bunnett and The Cuban Piano Masters at Koerner Hall, Toronto

This unique musical group was first conceived in Havana, Cuba in 1992 at the National Theatre with the great Cuban pianists José María Vitier and the late Frank Emilio. It was brought to fruition in Canada in 1993 with a ground-breaking concert at the Glenn Gould Theatre (CBC) and became Jane Bunnett’s recording debut for EMI/Bluenote [...]

Miguel de León – Postcards from Rio (Migsmuse Records – 2009)

There are several multi-lingual artists—some are even musicians. However, the fact that several languages may be spoken, even sung, it does not mean that they get to the soul of the musical culture whose garb they put on for the occasion. But Miguel de León is one of those artists who wears a cultural garb just like a second skin [...]

Nando Michelin – Reencontro (Self Produced – 2010)

In one of those eternal conundrums in the life of an artist, while Nando Michelin gets plenty of recognition he is relatively little known outside the small coterie of musicians who have taken the proverbial creative leap and transcended cultural boundaries. To be as little known as Michelin in outside intellectual circles is a pathetic fallacy. This is no fault of Michelin of course [...]