ALBUM REVIEWS

Gonzalo Rubalcaba and Aymée Nuviola Viento y Tiempo – Live at Blue Note Tokyo (Top Stop Music)

Jesse Ryan Bridges (Fwé Culture)

As world fusion in jazz continually moves one away from the primary centre defined by the blues and swing, global musicians take up the challenge of improvisation over a sonic bed of native and ethnic rhythms, and melodies. Jesse Ryan, Trinidad-born saxophonist, now based in Canada joins a group of Caribbean musicians seeking ways to successfully commercialise the “West Indian accent in jazz.” On half of Bridges, his debut album, he explores the rhythmic pulse of Tobago’s native tambrin band music. Modern

Michael Boothman

Songbook, Vol. 1 (Poui Tree Records)

Cuba represents an enigma for many travellers in the Americas. Its music salvages its imposed reputation as an outlier. To savour the excellence of its musical oeuvre, performance and its recording in global cities fortify a notion, widely recognised in the Caribbean, of the supremacy of the canon and artistry of Cuban musicians. Grammy winners, Afro-Cuban jazz pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba and singer Aymée Nuviola, “La Sonera del Mundo”, before an audience in Japan, offer a musical tribute to their mothers with music that they say is “a tribute to the music that flows through the streets of Havana which we grew up with.” jazz interpolation with the sound of the tambourine drum create a soundscape for another interpretation of New World African music. With a subdued sound mix, sublime conversations between guitar, piano, sax and percussion become epic in intention, effective in interpretation. This album, three years in the making, is an opening statement of a new jazz artist in the diaspora reconnecting with his roots to seal the idea of Caribbean music beyond a dance accompaniment. Brilliant.

Rumba and jazz, classic son montunos and danzonetes, boleros and ballads, and other tropical rhythms are mixed with call and response singing, jazz improvisation, percussive breaks, and dynamic piano playing to recorded elation from a Tokyo crowd. The collaboration of these childhood friends, and others, suggests Cuba’s musical history is manifestly rich.

Nostalgia is making a comeback: The Rolling Stones and Genesis will tour stadiums next year, and Paul McCartney and ABBA have new albums in 2021! In the Caribbean, kysofusion pioneer Michael Boothman from Trinidad is back with a bang. With a professional music career spanning six decades, and as an elder statesman on the regional music scene with international standing, the appearance of a new full length album after a gap of some years is a happy revelation that signals that his creative juices are still flowing. Songbook, Vol. 1 points to the idea that this is a first step on a new journey, a fresh awakening of the Boothman oeuvre with rearrangements of classics from the 1970s, “Saying It With Music” and “Mystic Sea,” and many new songs. This album is a showcase of fine songcraft, sophisticated musical ideas, and a kind of independent production value that understands that as audiences mature, quality never dissipates.

Available at iTunes

Available at iTunes

Available at iTunes