The Grammy-winning jazz pianist Arturo O’Farrill recorded this radiant music in Havana in December 2014, just as Barack Obama was launching the US-Cuba diplomatic thaw, so its mixed lineup of locals and Americans was timely. The centrepiece is O’Farrill’s Afro Latin Jazz Suite, a commemoration of his celebrated father Chico’s 1950 crossover suite on which Charlie Parker was a soloist. The solo role is taken here by the brilliant Indian-American alto saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa. Cuban, Peruvian and African rhythms as well as searing horn hooks frame Mahanthappa’s caustic lyricism; brittle riffs and churning percussion propel him through smoky boleros. New York pianist Michele Rosewoman’s Alabanza mixes time-bending contemporary jazz with Cuban music; Bobby Carcassés scats ingeniously. Vaca Frita makes DJ Logic’s turntables sound at home amid Havana horns; Second Line Soca splices Caribbean music and New Orleans trad. An imaginative brew of arty and party music.
