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In the late 1990s, the great Cuban-American woodwind master Paquito D’Rivera was enjoying a quiet evening at his New Jersey home when car pulled up nearby. A handful of young musicians called out to him, explaining they were Cuban musicians living in Spain who wanted see where he lived. That was how D’Rivera met Pepe Rivero and the other Cubans, thus beginning a long and fruitful musical relationship. After nearly two decades of inspired collaborations, D’Rivera and the Spanish contingent have come together to form the Madrid-New York Connection Band and record their first album together, “La Fleur de Cayenne.”
The infectious spirit of Brazilian music in all its forms is impossible to deny. Musicians from around the world succumb to the elements of samba, forro and bossa nova. For Brazilian musicians, the essence of these sounds and rhythms is tied up in all the music they create. The new collective ensemble Unity Quartet, featuring Helio Alves, Guilherme Monteiro, Gili Lopes and Alex Kautz, weave their Brazilian influences into a forward-thinking version of jazz, as can be heard on their new recording, “Samba of Sorts.” The members all hail from different parts of Brazil but have made New York their home, meeting and playing with one another in various projects.
Also this week, two of the most highly respected figures in the world of jazz—Dee Dee Bridgewater and Bill Charlap—document their critically-acclaimed, sold-out live concerts on their first collaborative album, “Elemental”; pianist Steve Holt’s latest album with his Jazz Impact Quintet, “Impact,” is a celebration of fresh, original compositions crafted over more than a year; and “The Best of Berlin” is an inspired presentation of Irving Berlin songs re-arranged and reinterpreted by the reed-playing brothers Peter & Will Anderson.