Harold López-Nussa
Nueva Timba
***and1/2 out of *****
The historical Cuban jazz meets a modern touch as the album was recorded live with only some studio touch-ups as the group can be adventurous or restrained. Harold brings onboard his brother Adrian for drums/percussion along with Luques Curtis on bass, Grégoire Maret on harmonica, Vincent Periani on accordion, Alexis Diaz on vocals, and Jose Angel Blanco as beatmaker.
After a brief opening spacey lift off, the players converge on the album highlight offering "Bonito y Sabroso". The song starts with popping piano and chattering voices before dropping in bass lines, samples, hip shaking percussion and more. A dynamite mix of big band style jazz with futuristic inserts that bubbles over with charm, energy, and experimentation.
Lopez-Nussa takes over the spotlight on a few piano showcase tunes such as the skittering and flamboyant arrangement of Ernesto Lecuona’s “Gitanerias” while the contemplative "Why" looks inward. "A Lyle" mixes piano and electric Rhodes piano with shimmering cymbals in Timba like fashion as Harold flies all over the keys with excitement.
At times things can get a bit overloaded, such as on the stop start grooving of "Cerca y Lejos" which piles on sounds, as well as children's vocals, while the journey presented on "Alma y Fuego" gets a bit chaotic but is worth the ride. The bluesy "Guajira" is a touch sad, but better focused, while the piano, percussion and stand up bass of “Niña Con Violin" (written by his uncle Ernán) is a gorgeous up and down ride.
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