Closing Latin Grammy Week, we have a Cuban jazz pianist and composer, and protégé of Spanish jazz singer Concha Buika…
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Jonathan Bogart: Cuban jazz pianist mutters over some expressionist glissandi, and the legendary Afro-Spanish singer Buika brings a bit of heat. But it’s not until the extended outro, in a structure borrowed from salsa, that the band gets down to the business of funk.
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Thomas Inskeep: Ivan Lewis, an incredibly gifted jazz pianist, is a musical soul brother to Jose James: both lead fabulous jazz combos (Lewis a trio, James a quartet) and both have got flow of their own as rappers. But while James is largely “just” a vocalist, Lewis plays piano as well. His pal Buika, no slouch herself, provides the warm, Nina Simone-esque vocals. “Latido del Alma” is pretty perfect, and squarely hits all of my pleasure centers.
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Alfred Soto: This Cuban pianist offers sturdy accompaniment to Concha Buika, who scats with exquisite care. A minute too long, though, and Lewis’ voice sounds beamed in from a Pitbull recording session.
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Juana Giaimo: The monotonous rap and the raspy voice never collide but take parallel paths. The piano, on the other hand, belongs to another song — still, there is an aim to join the lines when the piano echoes the “le-le”‘s at the end. The result is not only incoherent — what is the aim? To be reflective, to pour the heart out or to be elegant? — but also rather artificial.
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Micha Cavaseno: Ivan has that perfect sort of post-fusion light piano sound that reaches to the Latin tinges and the flourishes that dominate most of the softer realms of jazz. Everything is danceable, fairly harmonious and ever shifting. Concha Buika has a tone that bakes the track’s brittleness, sounding smooth to the point of stoned but never stumbling, and it suits it perfectly. Is there much to remember here? Not really, but it serves its purpose: to allow the listener to drift and feel the comforts of the tune’s graceful shifts.
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Iain Mew: Concha Buika’s intense performance brings the song to quite a good climax, as much in spite of the piano tinkling as aided by it. Only problem is that it turns out there’s still three minutes more meandering to go afterwards.
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Will Adams: The back-and-forth between spoken word and croon is enticing, if a bit like a toggled switch. But Lewis’ piano is the star here, and it sounds like the engineer agreed.
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