Caribbean Tinge : Live from Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola

This recording finds Elio Villafranca leading an outstanding group of jazz musicians and with seamless transitions from latin jazz to straight ahead jazz.Last Train to Paris is likely the most mellow of the tunes. Mambo Vivo is my favorite with a sensational piano solo from Villafranca and blazing solos from Vincent Herring and Terrell Stafford; a must for Perez Prado fans.Flower by the Dry River provides the most inspired solo by Villafranca and is one of the more complex tunes. The Source in Between is Another interesting and complex tune starting with Villafranca's piano solo, and also Willie Jones III on a super drums solo.Expert musicians will likely appreciate and understand the rich music in this CD, and decipher the rhythms that are being fused. For the rest of us, a detailed description of the tunes was written by Villafranca. This description ("liner notes") is helpful to understand the significant amount of research and preparation behind this album. The recording is based on a well planned fusion of Afro-Caribbean and jazz. Villafranca brings his native Cuban rhythms and also Puerto Rico's bomba and makes a strong effort to include the entire Caribbean in this recording.Overall a thorough fusion, a great step beyond the latin jazz category of recordings from yesteryears. This movement to seamless-exciting fusions appears to be a new initiative from this latest generation of jazz musicians.

Christmas gift to my husband. He love it.

Excellent job!!!

As a long-time jazz listener, I most enjoy most artists that combine great group interplay, with shifting rhythms and moods (e.g. any Charles Mingus, David Murray's Octet, and Henry Threadgill's Sextett). These days, those preferences are leading me to more and more latin jazz---especially artists that incorporate the best of both genres. This recording epitomizes the passion and intensity of the best of that music. Villafranca's piano is very tasty and his band combines great latin musicians with top-notch jazz soloists (such as, on different tracks, Vincent Herring, Greg Tardy, and the under-rated Terrell Stafford). I would put this in the same category with such other current latin jazz favorites as Dafnis Prieto'sAbout the Monks, William Cepeda's Afrorican Jazz, Michelle Rosewoman's Guardians of Light, and Jane Bunnett'sSpirits of Havana.