Funky Cha

Album review

Listening to the veteran New York composer/bassist's fourth project since 1999 is like taking a frenetic joyride through a realm where classic Latin music forms blend furiously with the best of America's jazz traditions. Harvie S has been at this a long time; in 1966, he traveled to Cuba to study with some of the island's master players. Since then, he's masterfully blended the two forms, working with great bandleaders like Juan-Carlos Formell, Stan Getz, Paquito d'Rivera, and Arturo O'Farrill, among others. The one major thing he's learned: both forms have the same African rhythmic roots. But why read a dull history book when you've got the bassist and his wild but subtle-when-they-have-to-be quintet providing such vibrant illustrations of the connection? They launch the disc with a hard-driving, heavily percussive jam on Thelonious Monk's "Rhythm-a-Ning" and the rolling, pitter-patter grooving original "C7 Heaven" (featuring Daniel Kelly's vibrant piano ensembling beautifully with Jay Collins' sax), then ease coolly into the date's most memorable -- if least chops-heavy -- number, the original piece "Mariposa en Mano," a sensuous slow-dance number dedicated to S's wife; S had recorded it as a bossa nova on an earlier album but his mixed vibe of son montuno and charanga is more than just a little intoxicating. From then on, he works a spirited balancing act between crazy-makers like the well-titled "Earquake" and the subtler, harmonically rich "A Bright Moment" and a hypnotic, classically influenced cover of Cole Porter's "What Is This Thing Called Love."
© Jonathan Widran /TiVo