Esse

The newest from Gustavo Cortiñas engages in a thrilling sleight of hand. The drummer leads out with melodies that are crisp and clear as a cloudless Summer afternoon, not to mention pretty damn catchy, to boot. But then his septet obscures the view, solos up a storm of distractions and details and fireworks, and while it all flows naturally from that original statement of melody, before too long, it's long forgotten. Well, until they suddenly return to it, revealing that the melody was still there, all along. And the repetition of this pattern does nothing to diminish the excitement even as expectations rise. I've been listening to this album all year long, and it's unlikely to drop from my listening queue any time soon.