Gilles Peterson Presents Havana Cultura

The Search Continues

Havana Cultura: The Search Continues, a two-disc compilation of contemporary Cuban music was an impulse buy for me. I've come to admire Gilles Peterson's Brownswood Recordings label because of the sublime album he released on it by Zara McFarlane, and while I knew this wouldn't be the same brand of beautiful jazz, I thought that working under the same rules I apply to Now-Again Records (ie. buy everything on sight), I'd be happy with it.

I'm very happy with it.

Over the course of thirty tracks, Peterson introduces the non-Cuban listener to a huge array of artists recording in Cuba today.  Among the sounds and genres represented here are Latin and Afro-jazz, hip-hop, funk, reggaeton, pop, and R&B.  The first album is played by Peterson's Havana Cultura Band, but each track has different 'guest' musicians.  The second album is more of a curated look at 'The New Cuban Underground'.  The only artists whose name was familiar to me on this project were The Heavyweights Brass Band (hailing from my neck of the woods), and they are there to accompany a Cuban singer.

The over-all effect of this album reminds me of the Brazilian survey compilation Oi: A Nova Musica Brasileira, which did the same kind of thing for Brazilian artists, but this collection is more balanced and cohesive as a whole piece.  The only track on here that annoys me is 'No Me Da Mi Cana Americana', by Kola Loka, and I believe that I'm mostly irritated by the way it permeates my conscious after listening to it, the way a good, but slightly irritating, pop song can.

Recommended.

Until Tomorrow

by Zara McFarlane

I'm not going to pretend to be even a little bit qualified to discuss jazz music.  I've not put much time into learning about it, and many of the genre's high points are not known to me.  I do know when I like something though, and I absolutely love this album.

I was poking around the store where I buy my music - a much more difficult proposition since the best music store in the city closed back in the summer - when the proprietor put this on.  It took less than the first minute of the first track for me to be spellbound by McFarlane's voice, and I immediately bought the album.

Until Tomorrow has ten tracks, all of which are written or co-written by McFarlane.  As well, she does much of her own producing and arranging, something we are told is incredibly rare in the liner notes.  This is an old school, loungy jazz, yet with a very modern aesthetic.  McFarlane's voice is a precision instrument, and her accompanists back her perfectly.

This album is very accessible, and is one of the best that I've heard all year.