Customer Reviews

Here & Now: Live in Concert

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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Dave Samuels (co)founded the Caribbean Jazz Project years ago and is the only one remaining at present. After years of different lineups and various co-frontmen he finally found the (in my opinion) ideal combination of instruments on their former release "Birds of a Feather", by choosing a trumpet player next to his vibes/marimba. Following the magnificent "Birds of a Feather" is this wonderful 2 cd live set, recorded over a series of three nights at the Manchester Crafts Guild in Pittsburg. The group this time consists of: Diego Urcola - trumpet, Dario Eskenazi - piano, Oscar Stagnaro - bass, Mark Walker - drums and Roberto Quintero - percussion. Diego Urcola does a good job in replacing Ray Vega and Randy Brecker on the last album and Mark Walker is just one of the finest latin jazz drummers around and shows here what an incredibly swinging force he is. There are many good things to be said about this album. Whereas I found their studio albums sounding somewhat sterile, this live set really smokes and gives a much more spontaneous feel. A good example is my favorite track of the album, "One Step Ahëad", which makes for an enthralling 11 minutes listen and making this cd worth buying on its own merit! But there is so much more to enjoy here: The choice of material is really good (although I could have done without "On The Road"), with some standards done in mostly refreshing ways along strong originals by mainly leader Dave Samuels. All in all, this disc comes highly recommended for both first-time and long-time latin jazz listeners!

This is a terrific CD. Very driving, fine playing. Also enjoyed the use of marimba on many of the tunes. The drummer flat out smokes, and the rest of the band is right there with him. I heard this at Tower and bought it on the spot... and I don't really like latin jazz, go figure

I am not a big fan of live recordings but this is a good one. The nice mixture of crowd enthusiasm and lively interpretations creates an atmosphere that does not detract but rather adds to the beauty of the disc. Included on this disc are tunes from their previous discs. Of note are four songs taken from the very nice CD entitled Gathering. One song taken from that disc is the opening track, "Rendezvous" which opens the set on fire; from there the tempo rarely lets up throughout the two disc set. The individual musicians are cut loose by leader and vibes player, Dave Samuels , for an unleashing of solos that ultimately all come together for the Latin jazz groove. Another album from which songs are taken is Paraiso. Here you will find music in the Latin jazz vein, slightly reworked(longer) versions of the originals. Of particular note is one of John Coltrane's The Very Best of John Coltrane signature songs, "Naima," which was written for one of his wives. The familiar melody (if you know the song) is at times lost in improvisation but eventually the solos end and that haunting melody remains. Another Coltrane related song is included, it is "Five for Elvin"(Elvin Jones) and just sizzles. Elvin Jones was one of the drummers for John Coltrane and you can find his tribute to Trane on Dear John C.. Dave Samuels has assembled a nice cast for this live performance. One such member is Latin jazz sax man Paquito D'Rivera Live at the Blue Note who is somewhat underrated as a jazz musician because he plays primarily Latin jazz. On the Dizzy Gillespie A Night in Tunisia: The Very Best of Dizzy Gillespie compostion, "A night in Tunsia" the song once again takes a turn from the traditional compostion and veers into unknown territory with the improvisations. Paquito starts it out on sax but soon it is a solo trade off. To tell you the truth, I could hardly tell it was the same song in certain sections of the song. I prefer the standards of Gillespie and Coltrane over these souped up versions. Probably the best standard jazz song and not so coincidently rings truest to the original, is "Stolen Moments." It is pure jazz with tinges of Latin influences with Rivera working some nice runs. All in all this is a good recording of standard and originals in a sometimes mellow, always funky Latin groove. Recommended for jazz and Latin jazz aficionados.

This is the type of music that appeals to almost anyone who enjoys jazz, latin jazz or just beautiful music that can take you anywhere. The rhythms are diverse from mellow to intense and the musicians are a real joy to listen to. Highly recommmend this 2 cd set.