PAQUITO D'RIVERA - La Habana : Rio Conexion (1992-2005) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

La Habana: Rio Conexion is saxophonist Paquito D'Rivera's attempt to bring the gospel of historical bolero to American listeners. These 12 cuts are steeped in the grand Cuban tradition and reinsert its cultural and historical center into a music that has been watered down to the point of being nondescript. But, of course, this is also a jazz recording, and D'Rivera is a jazz musician. The rhythmic and harmonic extrapolations are minimal, however, and focus on the integral form of the music whether it be the album's opening danza, Ernesto Lecuona's "La Comparsa," or the chorinho that closes the proceedings, Pixinguinha's "Segura Ele." In between are wonderfully romantic boleros, ballads of almost unbearable longing. D'Rivera surrounds himself with brilliant players, such as Danílo Perez, Fareed Haque, Pablo Zinger, Johnny Rodriguez, Claudio Roditi, and Jose Madera, to name a few. He also employs a full string section on many tunes. These range from sextets with strings to simple trio pieces, all of them having in common the form of the bolero as it migrated from Havana to Rio and interacted with samba. D'Rivera performs tunes by everyone from Ivan Lins to the great Cuban composers Ignacio Cervantes and Portillo de la Luz. This is an unabashedly romantic recording, which nonetheless possesses serious chops and killer arrangements by the late Chico O'Farrill, Pablo Zinger, and Carlos Franzetti. Highly recommended.
(This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa')
Tracklist :
1     La Comparsa 3:32
Ernesto Lecuona
2     Canção de Noite 4:35
Ivan Lins
3     Danzas Cubanas: A los Tres Golpes 1:21
Ignacio Cervantes
4     Danzas Cubanas: Invitación 0:48
Ignacio Cervantes
5     Noche Cubana 3:08
César Portillo De La Luz
6     Contigo en la Distancia 4:33
César Portillo De La Luz
7     Canción Simple 5:35
Nicolás Reynoso
8     Como un Milagro 4:15
Juanito Márquez
9     Impressions from Tien-An-Men Square 5:39
Paquito D'Rivera
10     No Puedo Ser Felíz 4:16
Adolfo Guzmán
11     Como Fué 4:33
Ernesto Duarte
12     Ciego Reto 3:42
Tania León
13     Segura Ele 3:10
Benedicto Lacerda / Pixinguinha
Credits :
Contrabass – David Finch
Drums – Mark Walker
Guitar – Fareed Haque, Romero Lubambo
Percussion – Johnny Rodriguez, José Madera
Piano – Danilo Perez, Pablo Zinger
Piano, Keyboards – Carlos Franzetti
Saxophone – Paquito D'Rivera
Trumpet – Claudio Roditi