Carlos Averhoff Jr. - Iqba: Jazz Meets Cuban Timba (2018)

Tenor saxist Carlos Averhoff Jr. leads a band of Alex Bro/tp, Rolando Luna/p, Nestor del Parado/b and Oliver Valdes/dr through a melding of Latin American folk rhythms and post bop harmonies. Thus you get an elliptical take of Wayne Shorter’s “Yes Or No” with the leader’s arrangements adding exotic pulses, while tricky curves and sharp angles are featured on “It Could Happen to You.” Luna’s piano gives a riveting tribute to Cedar Walton on “Bolivia” with sleek horn work up front on Averhoff’s on “Raquel.” The leader’s lean tenor works well an the carb free “Inner Urge” and pleads during “What’s New.” The team shines like a rainbow on the elegiac read of “I Fall in Love Too Easily” and romantic during “Pas En Mi Cancion.” Latin lovers reconcile.~ By George W. Harris