With a quivering, seductive, mournful, and remarkably flexible voice, Concha Buika earned a healthy following in her homeland as the great 2000s chanteuse of flamenco. The singer enchanted crowds on a U.S. tour just prior to her 2008 stateside debut, Niña de Fuego, a bewitching and diverse record featuring echoes of everything from Coltrane to Jobim to Radiohead. The sound ranges from the dark offbeat artistry of the title track to the downright breezy playfulness of “Arboles de Agua,” on an engrossing opening statement of an album.© Jason Thurston /TiVo

The pairing of Afro-Majorcan vocalist Concha Buika and Afro-Cuban pianist Chucho Valdés has apparently been a long time coming. But they are here together on this lovely recording, featuring songs from a wide variety of composers, in a handful of duets, or with the Valdés' band backing them. El Ultimo Trago -- translated as "The Last Drink" -- is as much a tribute to Mexican singer Chavela Vargas, a major influence on Buika. She's a passionate singer with a dusky, slightly raspy, thin, and gritty voice, but she sure can belt out a song like a great blues singer, or Cape Verdean contemporary Césaria Evora. While coming from the land of flamenco, this music retains the son quality of Afro-Cuban music, in great part due to the professional expertise Valdés adds to the musical arrangements, not necessarily the lyric content. Those expressions come from a romantic context, telling tales of lessons in life sung in Spanish, mostly brief and to the point, made more elegant by the legendary pianist, who as usual can do no wrong. The consistency of these recordings from track to track reflects the romantic notions of these great musicians, from the slow, sultry cha-cha form of "Soledad" and "Sombras," to the light son "Cruz de Olvido" with the magnificent, regal, traditional-styled piano playing of Valdés, "Se Me Hizo Facil" where Buika's singing is at times exuberant, or the bolero type "Somos" with chiming chords from the pianist. The uptempo clave beat of "El Andariego" incites a more animated Buika and instills Valdés to jump into a montuno bridge, and a very lively "Luz de Luna" is pushed along by the skilled trumpet playing of Carlos Sarduy. Bassist Lazaro Rivero Alarcón, percussionist Yaroldy Abreu Robles, and drummer Juan Carlos Rojas Catro lay out on several selections, as Buika and Valdés go it alone for the passionate "Las Cuidades," the short, quaint, classic waltz "En El Ultimo Trago," the lilting "Las Simplas Cosas" that bears resemblance to the croon tune "Besame Mucho," or the delicate closer "Vamonos." Clearly a chemistry exists here, beautifully exotic, with Buika as the shining star to be discovered and fully illuminated, with Valdés as her colorful spotlight technician. It's unlikely you'll find a better pairing of an amazing singer and accompanist anywhere else, no matter the music type, but if you enjoy the classic Latin song performed with every ounce of emotion available, this recording will be impossible to resist.© Michael G. Nastos /TiVo

The first official compilation by the acclaimed flamenco fusion/jazz/soul vocalist from Palma de Mallorca, En Mi Piel: The Best of Buika collects highlights from the four excellent albums she recorded between 2005 and 2009. This generous two-CD set concentrates on her projects with producer Javier Limón, and while it does not feature any material from her rare 2000 debut Mestizüo, it includes many tracks not available on her original albums. Among these are collaborations with Sean, Armando Manzanero, and the Iván Melón Lewis Quintet; her two superb contributions to Pedro Almodóvar's 2011 film La Piel Que Habito ("Por el Amor de Amar" and "Se Me Hizo Fácil"); and two previously unreleased tracks, "Sueño con Ella" and "Como Era."© Mariano Prunes /TiVo

Released in 2006, Mi Niña Lola is the third album from Spanish singer Buika, and her second release from that year. Besides her usual mixing of flamenco music with R&B and jazz, Buika has included some traditional copla songs, including the title track. Guitarist Niño Josele provides accompaniment while flamenco veteran Javier Limón handles production.© David Jeffries /TiVo

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It has been five years since Concha Buika released Ultimo Trago, her tribute to ranchera legend Chavela Vargas in collaboration with Cuban pianist Chucho Valdés. She's also had her songs used in Pedro Almodovar's La Piel que Habito, authored two books, toured relentlessly, and relocated from Spain to Miami, Florida. On La Noche Mas Larga she has continued her musical evolution from her beginnings as a dynamic neuvo flamenco singer to a true stylist who weaves the roots, passion, and skill of that music into everything from Afro-Cuban styles, jazz, and even R&B. Co-produced by herself, pianist Ivan "Melon" Lewis, and percussionist Ramon Porrina, Buika reveals herself as an accomplished songwriter on nearly half these tunes. Recorded in Madrid, Miami, and New York, she surrounded herself with many familiar musicians including bassist Alain Perez and guitarist Juan Jose Suarez (aka "El Paquete"), as well as enlisting New York Latin jazz players like drummer Dafnis Prieto, to name one. "Seboney" showcases a flamenco jazz vocal inside an arrangement that melds conga-driven rhumba to funk. Her reading of Jacques Brel's "If You Go Away" ("Ne Me Quitte Pas") is transformed from a ballad to a 6/8 flamenco-infused Cuban jazz cooker that features some scatting, and for all its revisioning, still feels raw and sensual and mournful. Carlos Sarduy's muted trumpet aids in the slower Afro-Cuban groove that underscores "La Nave del Olvido." There is a pair of jazz standards here too, and though sung in English, they're completely re-arranged. "Don't Explain" is closely associated with Billie Holiday. This version is a swinging flamenco reading that evokes the spirit of jazz while never diving fully into it. Set-closer "Throw It Away" is an Abbey Lincoln signature piece. Buika's version, driven by Pérez's funky electric bassline, nonetheless employs the heart of flamenco as it meets neo-soul and modern jazz. "Como Era," an original, commences as a lilting ballad but gradually takes on a fingerpopping R&B groove. Buika's "Los Solos" suggests timba highlighted by bata drums. Her title track is a mysterious ballad that marries flamenco rhythms and dynamics to jazz syncopation and an elegiac yet sensual melody. Speaking of ballads, guitarist Pat Metheny appears on the smoky, aching "No Lo Se." With gorgeous production, creative vision, and an ambitious reach combined with poetic lyricism and musical sophistication, La Noche Mas Larga displays Buika's truly singular power as a singer; she can not only can inject flamenco's soul into virtually anything she sings, she can push hard at its walls convincingly, and without abandoning it. This is her masterpiece to date.© Thom Jurek /TiVo

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This 36-track set collects key tracks from Buika's albums released between 2000 and 2009, including tracks from her breakout album Mi Niña Lola from 2006, and her collaboration with Cuban pianist Chucho Valdés, 2009’s El Ultimo Trago.© Steve Leggett /TiVo

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The pairing of Afro-Majorcan vocalist Concha Buika and Afro-Cuban pianist Chucho Valdés has apparently been a long time coming. But they are here together on this lovely recording, featuring songs from a wide variety of composers, in a handful of duets, or with the Valdés' band backing them. El Ultimo Trago -- translated as "The Last Drink" -- is as much a tribute to Mexican singer Chavela Vargas, a major influence on Buika. She's a passionate singer with a dusky, slightly raspy, thin, and gritty voice, but she sure can belt out a song like a great blues singer, or Cape Verdean contemporary Césaria Evora. While coming from the land of flamenco, this music retains the son quality of Afro-Cuban music, in great part due to the professional expertise Valdés adds to the musical arrangements, not necessarily the lyric content. Those expressions come from a romantic context, telling tales of lessons in life sung in Spanish, mostly brief and to the point, made more elegant by the legendary pianist, who as usual can do no wrong. The consistency of these recordings from track to track reflects the romantic notions of these great musicians, from the slow, sultry cha-cha form of "Soledad" and "Sombras," to the light son "Cruz de Olvido" with the magnificent, regal, traditional-styled piano playing of Valdés, "Se Me Hizo Facil" where Buika's singing is at times exuberant, or the bolero type "Somos" with chiming chords from the pianist. The uptempo clave beat of "El Andariego" incites a more animated Buika and instills Valdés to jump into a montuno bridge, and a very lively "Luz de Luna" is pushed along by the skilled trumpet playing of Carlos Sarduy. Bassist Lazaro Rivero Alarcón, percussionist Yaroldy Abreu Robles, and drummer Juan Carlos Rojas Catro lay out on several selections, as Buika and Valdés go it alone for the passionate "Las Cuidades," the short, quaint, classic waltz "En El Ultimo Trago," the lilting "Las Simplas Cosas" that bears resemblance to the croon tune "Besame Mucho," or the delicate closer "Vamonos." Clearly a chemistry exists here, beautifully exotic, with Buika as the shining star to be discovered and fully illuminated, with Valdés as her colorful spotlight technician. It's unlikely you'll find a better pairing of an amazing singer and accompanist anywhere else, no matter the music type, but if you enjoy the classic Latin song performed with every ounce of emotion available, this recording will be impossible to resist.© Michael G. Nastos /TiVo

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