For legal reasons, the Metro Detroit area group Tumbao changed their name to
Tumbao Bravo, but their potent Latin jazz remains the same. This second recording, a follow-up to
Montuno Salad, is as consistently excellent as the first. It's a program of all original material that continues to recall their Afro-Cuban influences and various familiar spicy rhythmic devices. These musicians are true experts, starting with hand percussionist Dr. Alberto Nacif, saxophonist and especially flutist
Paul Vornhagen, veteran jazz trumpeter Bob Mojica, pianist Sven Anderson, and Javier Berrios on the timbales. But as they are fine players, this democratically derived music, with individual compositions from each band member, truly displays a team concept, a unified sound, and a joyous result. The CD starts hot on "Tres Gracias," an outstanding montuno descarga that immediately cements the bond between
Vornhagen's bright flute and Mojica's deft trumpet. Their tandem playing shines throughout the recording, whether it be the jazzier cha cha sax and trumpet combo for "Lena Maya," the breezy feel of "La Noche" with a Blue Note album type feeling tacked onto a contemporary
Clare Fischer styled Latin jazz, or "50 y 33," where the horn section sounds much larger than just two. Anderson's terrific show-stopping tribute to
Eddie Palmieri, "E.P." is chock-full of the strong piano accents, bright melody, staggered phrasings, heated interchanges in a 6/8 mode, stair step phrases, and cooking percussion you'd expect from a
Palmieri conjunto, with
Vornhagen's soprano sax as the cherry on top. Playing the Fender Rhodes piano, Anderson again steals the show on "Amigos," a hip groove-to- guaguanco number that simply sounds fantastic. Again very similar to the cha cha mainstream jazz that you might have heard from the Blue Note stable (especially if
Ray Barretto was added on conga drums), "Clavier & the Doctor" has Nacif whipping the band into a frenzy, with the horns happier and singing. The influence of
Fischer and his
Salsa Picante band shows up again during "Riding with Sveng," the title a cute play on words as Sven Anderson's electric piano provides the basis for this California Latin style. Also included -- the light Brazilian "Jana," the patient but firm "Cumbia Del Cura," a Latin reference to
John Coltrane's "Giant Steps" in "John's Big Shoes," and the pensive mariachi type love song "Oneiros." A solid effort from top to bottom with no weak tracks at all,
Tumbao Bravo make a case for themselves as not only the premier Latin jazz band in Michigan or the Midwest, but one of the better units worldwide. ~ Michael G. Nastos