Cuba: The Conversation Continues

Grammy Award and Latin Grammy Award winning album (multiple category nominations) - Recorded in Havana 24 hours after President Obama announced his plan to normalize relations between the U.S. and Cuba, Arturo O'Farrill & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra's Cuba: 

The Conversation Continues is a powerful symbol of cultural diplomacy, a juxtaposition of music and current events. A follow up to the GRAMMY-winning "The Offense of the Drum," the new album builds upon the conversation started by Dizzy Gillespie and Cuban percussionist Chano Pozo - a musical dialogue that bridged the gap between jazz and Afro-Cuban music. 

O'Farrill brings top composers from both the U.S. and Cuba to create a dazzling musical tapestry, successfully fulfilling Dizzy's dream of creating 'universal music'.

It features compositions by six American and four Cuban composers, played by 24 musicians. There are 21 producers, five videographers, and two photographers. Among the composers are the bandleader, Michele Rosewoman, Michel Herrera, Juan de la Cruz Antomarchi ("Coto"), and Dafnis Prieto. 

The first disc offers O'Farrill's four-movement "Afro Latin Jazz Suite," in tribute to his father's "Afro Cuban Jazz Suite" that featured soloist Charlie Parker. This one offers saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa in the premier role, and he doesn't disappoint as he moves through angular post-bop and salsa, African highlife, and progressive jazz. The third movement, "Adagio," is a lilting cha cha. Rosewoman's "Alabanza" is a gorgeous exercise in orchestral textures and rhythms (with the composer as a soloist) that inexorably connects Yoruban and Latin folk forms to post-bop articulations. 

On disc two, Herrera's "Just One Moment" is a grooving exercise in color and swing, while Coto's "El Bombom" is a driving, big band changüí with the man himself on tres and vocals. There are also wonderful solos from bassist Gregg August and trumpeter John Bailey. Earl McIntyre's "Second Line Soca (Brudda's Singh)," with vocalist Renee Manning, seamlessly melds Havana's drum chants and son-styled montunos with New Orleans jazz, funk, and Caribbean tropical grooves. O'Farrill has been on a creative tear over the last five years; 

DISC 1

1. The Triumphant Journey

THE AFRO LATIN JAZZ SUITE

2. Movement I: Mother Africa

3. Movement II: All of the Americas

4. Movement III: Adagio

5. Movement IV: What Now?

6. Guajira Simple

7. Alabanza

8. Blues Guaguancó

DISC 2

1. Vaca Frita

2. Just One Moment

3. El Bombón

4. Second Lina Soca (Brudda Singh)

5. There’s a Statue of Jose Martí in Central Park

HONORS

GRAMMY Award, Best Instrumental Composition (The Afro Latin Jazz Suite by Arturo O’Farrill), 58th GRAMMY Awards

Latin GRAMMY Award, Best Latin Jazz Album, 17th Latin GRAMMY Awards

GRAMMY nomination, Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album, 58th GRAMMY Awards

#1 Latin Album of 2015 NPR Music Jazz Critics Poll

Top 20 Album of the Year, 2015 NPR Music Jazz Critics Poll

iTunes Jazz Best of 2015 List

DownBeat Top Albums of 2015 List

JazzTimes Top 40 Albums of 2015

Best Latin Jazz Releases/Best Large Jazz Ensemble Releases 2015, NYC Jazz Record