Una Más

Afro Bop Alliance's 2008 Caribbean Jazz Project won a Latin Grammy Award and was nominated for a regular Grammy in the "Best Latin Jazz Album" category. That's not surprising, since the Washington, D.C. area-based big band is a superb ensemble of outstanding players, some of them members of the premier D.C. military bands. Indeed, one of the group's most impressive soloists, the Brecker/ Mintzer-school tenorist Luis Hernandez is also musical director of The Commodores, the U.S. Navy's top Jazz ensemble. On Una Más they perform Latin compositions and some non-Latins that are given a Latin treatment by such composers as Dave Samuels, who plays vibes and marimba on the recording, Luis Perdomo, Hector Martignon, Cal Tjader, Joey Calderazzo, Benny Golson, the band's bassist Mike Pope, and the band's other tenor player Vince Norman, who also skillfully arranged or orchestrated the charts. And there's not a ballad among them. The "coolest" number is Samuels' "Cherry Blossom," a lovely Brazilian-style piece that includes strings in the accompaniment. But the other tracks are full of fire, including Perdomo's rhythmically complex "Golpe De Cumaco," his impression of the music Africans slaves brought to the coast of Venezuela. In spite of the rhythmic and metrical complexity of some of the tunes ("Cherry Blossom" is mostly in 7/4, for example), the many improvised solos are excellent, with the dazzling Hernandez featured throughout. Drummer Joe McCarthy and percussionist-conga player Roberto Quintero guarantee that the temperature level remains high.