Cultural Survival

by

David Sánchez

Edit

First of all, let me say, I really like this CD. Sanchez is touted as a major figure in the "new generation" of jazz musicians who filter their jazz through ethnic roots, in his case, Puerto Rico. In fact, he has already done that, very effectively, on his 2000 release Melaza (which I highly recommend) - But this new CD mostly reminds me of a lot of East Coast jazz from the 80's, like some Jerry Bergonzi with Mick Goodrich on guitar or Dave Liebman, or even Mike Brecker - modern post-bop, 'Trane influenced tenors, with loose, free-swinging edgy rhythm sections. And I love that kind of music! - but there's nothing too new about it in this case... except there is a little Caribbean flavor...so I guess I'm thinking that the title is a little over the top... (just one listener's take on it...well I'm not the only one...) but buy it - it's a really nice recording!

Overview:

With the title "Cultural Survival" and track names such as Manto Azul, Ay Bendito, and La Leyenda del Canaveral I was sure this was going to be a Latin Jazz album. However, what I discovered here is a fairly straight forward post bop CD. Guitarist Lage Lund is heavily featured on this CD and the collaboration between Lund and Sanchez is the driving force of the album. The overall sound of the CD has more resemblences to your standard guitar/sax classic(e.g. Sonny Rollin's The Bridge) than anything else. Sanchez's sound on the sax is bold and strong for the most part, but occasionally hints at smooth jazz. There are some moments where there is an air of world music and latin jazz, but for the most part this recording sticks to a standard post bob sound.

Song Highlights:

Adoracion: This song features my favorite song writing on the track. There is a nice part in the middle of the track where everyone stops and Sanchez let's loose with a real nice riff on the sax and everyone joins back in. It's too bad there are not more clever parts like this throughout the album.

Monk's Mood: A real nice rendition of the Thelonious Monk classic. Sanchez did a nice arrangement for sax and guitar. It would be have nice to incorporate some latin elements into the classic, but unfortunately this didn't happen.

Coast to Coast: I like the guitar playing here. This song sets the mood nicely for the album. This song is good representation of what this album has to offer.