Luis Conté - Black Forest (1989)

The music on percussionist Luis Conte's somewhat obscure Denon CD is of lesser interest since it is funky, often quite commercial, and not too memorable. The best selections are a Latinization of Chopin's "Susarasa," "Mere Wotimbo," and the closing percussion feature, "El Solar," although tenor saxophonist Larry Klimas does an excellent (if unintentional) imitation of Ernie Watts on "Krimson and Khaos." Otherwise, the music (which often has David Witham's keyboards setting the grooves) is quite routine, sounding as if it was geared for radio airplay, although apparently without much success in that area either. Luis Conte plays well but is often a minor character on his own CD.