REVIEW:

Cubana Bop

Latin music divides opinion among jazz aficionados. For some it is too far from the spirit of jazz, too dependent on repetitive motifs, perhaps just altogether too upbeat and happy, while for others it has been part of jazz for a long time and can be a welcome relief from the intensity of post-bop convolutions. Thus it was a first for the Spin to invite Terry Seabrook’s Cubana Bop, a group that specialises in Latin style music, albeit, as the name suggests, with a definite jazz edge. Even if some of the regular Spin audience stayed away others came to fill the club, eager to have their spirits lifted. This shows not just that Latin music has great appeal but that the Spin now has the assurance and maturity to put on an ever-widening range of music and rightly feel confident of an audience.

With drummer Adam Riley using a kit based around foot-operated claves and timbales alongside conga drums and electric bass, Cubana Bob has a distinct salsa sound that cannot be confused with the likes of Stan Getz playing Girl from Ipenema. From the first number, a clever reworking of Worksong, toes and fingers were jumping to the beat all over the room and several couples at the back were going for the full dance move. Yet despite the superficial accessibility of the rhythm this is a serious band of professional musicians nurtured in the complexities of jazz. The horn section of Ian Price and Mark Armstrong both played some storming solos, taking the music well out of the perception of a shallow Latin groove. Armstrong in particular used the trumpet to reach over the band and inject the sound with sharp intelligent lines and Price played with a sharp bebop feel and in a Seabrook ballad he displayed great warmth and sensitivity. Behind this Adam Riley’s drumming was far more intricate than a standard Latin groove and the duets between drums and conga were a great mix of tradition and sophistication. Terry Seabrook has put together a superb band with a strong international reputation. His latest album, Now Hear This, is a perfect distillation of his composing and arranging skills even if several of the melodies seem to contain the ghosts of others that came before them.

© Paul Medley