The idea for
the Rhythmagic Orchestra was born from a drinking session between
Ben Lamdin of
Nostalgia 77 fame and Latin music-spinning DJ Hugo Mendez (Sofrito) back in 2005. Their notion was to create a band whose members could perform their favorite moments of 20th century Latin music in the cultural context of the 21st. While the idea may have seemed pure fanboy nostalgia, it was eventually given birth and the result is anything but.
Lamdin recruited members of his own session band and some of the U.K.'s session and club players, including bassist
Riaan Vosloo, saxophonists
Mark Hanslip, James Allsopp, and
Jonny Spall (who also arranges), flutist
Gareth Lockrane, trumpeters
Fulvio Sigurta and
Tom Allan, trombonists
Trevor Mires and
Nick Mills, pianist
Ross Stanley, drummer
Graham Fox, conguero
Oreste E. Noda, bongo boss
Randy Compadre, and timbaleros
Oscar Martinez and
Bartelemi. The set kicks off with a stellar Afro-Cuban read of
Nina Simone's "African Mailman" featuring a tight, pounding montuno piano and beautiful flute fills and solo.
Kenny Dorham's "Afrodisia" contains a rearrangement with a driving piano and hard-swinging baritone saxophone. While some tunes covered here are from the Latin jazz canon --
Art Blakey's "Sakeena" and the
Dizzy Gillespie/
Chano Pozo standard "Manteca" -- they are exceptionally well performed and arranged. That said, other tunes here, such as
Gigi Gryce's "Tiajuana,"
A.K. Salim's wailing "Turuato,"
Cedar Walton's slow burning "Afreaka," a startling and sultry arrangement of
Horace Silver's "Mary Lou," and the otherworldly rumba in
Humberto Morales' "Gulli Gulli" are not necessarily from the canon but make for excellent additions to the program. To top it off,
Lamdin and
Spall added a pair of their own tunes to the mix, the brassy strut of "Cha Cha de Juventud" and the contrapuntal salsero "Fish Market Dance." Issued on
Lamdin's Impossible Ark imprint, this date is a stunner from top to bottom, suitable for jazzheads to nod at for the hipness in its presentation and the excellence in its playing and arranging, and for club dancers to tear the floor to shreds to. What began as an in-the-moment idea in a state of partial drunkenness has paid off in musical spades:
The Rhythmagic Orchestra is the authentic Afro-Latin jazz real deal.