jazz marlbank marlbank

Love this. I’ll not bang on. But here’s why: it has clean lines, the tunes are amazing but unless you listen to a lot of Latin American Spanish language pop you won’t know them much. Case in point, check out where ‘Yo No Sé Mañana’ derives from – a hit in 2009 for salsa star Luis Enrique.

Enrique like guitarist Omar Ríos Meléndez, the lesser known of these players from a UK jazz point of view, is from Nicaragua. The version with Englishman Alex Wilson, known for his work with Gary Crosby, crucially differs, because like everything on this album it’s an instrumental.

Wilson who is also a lively salsa player was last on our radar on a very fine 2023 Samuel Blaser album called Routes playing skazz, ska jazz, a term Crosby may even have coined or popularised. It was a tribute to the music of Don Drummond.

Unusual but not at all an album that falls between two stools, genres or idioms

The Art of Deep Connection is very sunny, angled firmly towards a very strong Nicaraguan focus. There isn’t too much jazz soloing and it sits in its own space. But there is a strong jazz touch however sublimated thanks mostly to Wilson who plays brilliantly and shows his versatility again. It’s a case of a meeting of minds and talents.

Recorded at an elite studio, Steve Winwood’s place in the west country, audiophiles will get a lot out of the album as well. There’s super separation in the mix.

Meléndez compositions blend in well with the covers. Take the trouble to listen especially to the duo’s treatment of a song 60s Nicaraguan rock band Los Rockets played – ‘Tema de William.’

The title track ‘The Art of Deep Connection’ like a lot of the time and often quite rightly is a case of the best is kept to last. Wilson’s deft chord progressions in the introduction are expert at story telling and keeping you listening. These two know how to tell timeless stories from a land of music few of us know much about but will be craving to know more of after dipping toes in these welcoming waters.

But it’s far more than a sentimental education, there’s vitality and sheer spirit. The album also includes a highly rhythmical take on Nicaraguan composer Justo Santos’ ‘La Mora Limpia’ from the 1950s their version of which you may well play to death. It’s like an unofficial national anthem for Nicaraguans.