CUBAN JAZZ REPORT

• CUBAN JAZZ REPORT

Product Description In early 2014, the Danish-resident conga player and bandleader Eliel Lazo invented a concept that he dubbed 'Cuban Nights', the goal of which was to play and present new and authentic Cuban music on many stages, including the Copenhagen JazzHouse Montmartre. After many successful Cuban nights across the country and around Europe with various musicians, Eliel decided to return to the original line-up. So, here's the dream team back together again, including legendary pianist Javier 'Caramelo de Cuba' Masso, bassist Yasser Pino, drumming genius and Grammy winner Raul Pineda and Eliel himself to collectively turn up the heat, all gloriously recorded in the legendary Musigrama studio in Madrid. Cuban Jazz Report is honest and engaging music with rhythms and emotions prioritized over Latin jazz's usual commercial clichés. If you are looking for lush and euphoric tunes with impressive polyrhythms and something totally refreshing, then you need look no further! Review The music throughout is so infectious that the notion of the live Cuban Nights series that spawned this project begrudgingly edges into your consciousness as something that would have been magical to witness. But while the high-energy of the more explosive numbers like 'Nuevo Amanecer', 'Cuban Style Blues' and 'Monday Evening' are wonderful standouts, the ballads (boleros) are equally captivating like the complete reimagining of 'La Caminadora' originally performed in the 1960s by the Cuban close-harmony and doo-wop-inspired group Los Zafiros but recreated here as a lush piano-led bolero with a fantastic vocal. Having been in the making for five years, the official unveiling of 'Cuban Jazz Report' must hold particular significance for the musicians involved. It's a stunning record that also serves well as a really fantastic introduction to Cuban jazz and Afro-Cuban music. --Imran Mirza, UK Vibe.org, February 1st 2020 Here are four crack instrumentalists who among them have buoyed such stellar acts as Richard Bona, Concha Buika, Roberto Fonseca and Chucho Valdes, and who in 2014 achieved mythological status via Cuban Nights, a must-see live European tour put together by conguero (and vocalist) Eliel Lazo. An album has been a long time coming but this one rewards the wait, with the original quartet - Lazo, bassist Yasser Pino, drummer Raul Pineda and pianist Javier 'Caramelo' Masso - reassembled and firing on all cylinders... The players' telepathy, of course, is what makes this album shine. Solos and descargas, while head-shakingly good, are to the point, and never overdone. Proof that the whole is always greater than the sum of its parts - **** --Jane Cornwell, Songlines, July 2020