Cuban expatriate performs on with , a group of close musical friends who play with a number of Cuban groups. It's a pretty basic session of , with some fine players pitching in to provide work on the various pieces of the ensemble. There's a blend of old Cuban classics, , and new compositions covering the spectrum of genres throughout the album. Perhaps more notably, was classically trained, giving him the ability to work himself into a light mode with references to any number of composers along the way. It doesn't necessarily have the pounding beat and piano acrobatics of a album, but then again, isn't trying to do that in the first place. It's a nice look through a catalog of genres spanned by a group of friends meeting for a tour in Paris, and the sound is just that: a happy endeavor among some good musicians. Pick it up for the bent, but for pure power, look up some or solo work first. ~ Adam Greenberg