With
Wayne Henderson of Crusaders fame handling the production,
Caldera showed a great deal of promise on its self-titled 1976 debut album. The Latin jazz-fusion unit isn't afraid to take chances on such imaginative pieces as
Jorge Strunz's "El Juguete" and
Eduardo del Barrio's "Exaltation" -- chances that pay off in a major way. Though one can tell that
Caldera's members were well aware of such explorers as
Return to Forever,
Weather Report, and
the Mahavishnu Orchestra, it's also clear that they were major
Earth, Wind & Fire fans and had absorbed a wide variety of Latin music. Strunz and del Barrio were hardly the only fusionists who incorporated Latin rhythms in the 1970s --
Chick Corea,
George Duke,
Wayne Shorter,
Al DiMeola, and
Joe Zawinul were all well aware of the musical innovations of Latinos, but
Caldera was unique in the sense that the band represented a real melting pot of Latinos bringing different ideas to the table. And on this LP, those ideas work magnificently.