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Although he was regularly releasing new material some 15 to 30 years ago, its been a while since Juan Carlos Quintero put out a new CD of all new tracks. So it has come to pass that all fans of Latin Jazz can rejoice because his new album, “Table for Five” has been well worth the wait. Recently, much Latin jazz has been becoming increasingly abstract and divorced from dance movements, if you prefer something that is more in the groove, than this new CD may be what you are looking for. This album is all about the rhythm, there are solos but they stay in the pocket and always relate to the opening melody. It’s a great band Quintero has assembled here, these are all old friends who have jammed together many times and it shows, this is very much community music with a lot of heart.
“Table for Five” uses a wide variety of Latin rhythms, often referencing Afro-Cuban, but a touch of Brazil and Colombia come through as well. Juan usually plays a nylon string acoustic, but for this album he switched to hollow body electric which was a good choice as it gives the rhythms more punch. Pianist Joe Rotondi backs him up with those signature montuno style piano riffs and percussionist Joey DeLeon cuts through the mix with slammin timbale interjections. Many of the tunes covered here are well known to jazz and Latin fans, but these arrangements breathe new life into these well worn numbers. Especially effective is a cha-cha version of “Song for my Father’ which takes on an almost Latin soul vibe. The covers are nice, but for future Quintero releases it would be good to hear some more of his originals because the two on here are about the best tracks on the album. Especially infectious is the cumbia flavored title track. it’s a shame more jazz musicians won’t use cumbia beats more often, maybe that seems too folk for them, but this album has no pretensions in that direction. Another plus to “Table for Five” is the production and recording quality, this album sparkles with direct precision and perfect balance.
