Listen to this week’s playlist on YouTube and Spotify.
When Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra traveled to Havana in December of last year to record his new CD, “Cuba: the Conversation Continues,” something nearly miraculous happened: President Obama unexpectedly announced the restoration of full diplomatic relations with Cuba. O’Farrill had fought for political normalization between the countries through cultural diplomacy long before the announcement. His father, the late Latin music legend Chico O’Farrill, was born in Cuba, but was unable to return to the island after the revolution and he subsequently settled in the U.S. “It was an emotional experience for me,” O’Farrill explains,” a day that I hoped would come for years.” An auspicious moment in the celebrated pianist’s 30-year career, the recording is a profound statement that’s a touchstone of diplomatic engagement and cultural healing.
Mike LeDonne has appeared on over 100 CDs as a sideman with so many jazz giants it’s hard to keep count: Art Farmer, Dizzy Gillespie, Stanley Turrentine, Milt Jackson and others. LeDonne made his first recording as a leader on the B-3 in 2003 and has since added seven additional records to his discography. For his new CD, “Awwright!”, his Groover Quartet mates Eric Alexander, Peter Bernstein and Joe Farnsworth are joined by guests Jeremy Pelt on trumpet and the venerable bassist Bob Cranshaw. With such an illustrious line-up there are few jazz combos that burn hotter, swing hotter or generate more excitement than this all-star aggregation.
Also this week, contemporary jazz stalwarts Jeff Lorber and Chuck Loeb delve into the mainstream jazz songbooks of Monk, Coltrane and Parker on “Bop,” with help from friends like Harvey Mason, Brian Bromberg and Rick Braun; saxophonist Corbin Andrick is joined by some of the very best young talent in Chicago on “Olmstead’s Whistle”; and singer/songwriter Melody Gardot takes on a rootsier sound on “Currency of Man,” embracing the West Coast soul, funk, gospel and pop of the early ‘70s as the backdrop for her new tunes.