Search - Irakere, Chucho Valdes :: Yemaya

The billing (Irakere "featuring Chucho Valdés") illustrates what a draw the leader-pianist Valdés has become in his own right, and Yemayá does indeed showcase his prodigious talents as a keyboardist, albeit on an electro-acoustic instrument and with a set designed as much for the American jazz audience as for his Cuban roots. The opening title cut with Valdés's sister Mayra Caridad on vocals is a killer Latin-soul-jazz workout, while track 2, with blistering solo work from Valdés over a crisp, percussion-led rhythm, sets the tone for the remaining seven extended cuts. This is not so much Cuban music as jazz with a Latin base--complex, disciplined, but swinging hard. The pace is often frenetic, with soloists diving straight in at the deep end, but with sophisticated arrangements there is always plenty of light, shade, and drama. Yemayá represents a new phase for Irakere and is Latin Jazz of the highest caliber, full of virtuosity and passion. --Derek Rath