Early this spring, young trumpet phenom Irvin Mayfield, who debuts with this recording, and percussion master Bill Summers, whose credits include Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters as well as soundtracks for Roots and The Color Purple, hooked up with drummer Jason Marsalis, the youngest (and if it’s possible, most talented) of the Marsalis clan, for a gig at the New Orleans jazz bistro known as Snug Harbor. Before the night was over chairs had been kicked back, tables had been pushed aside, and dancing had infiltrated those generally more sedate confines, with percussion instruments flying from the bandstand into the audience. By all accounts, it was a night unlike any other.
So, when these hombres say caliente, believe it: they mean caliente.
Combining stellar performances and jazz inspirations with ethnic integrity, Los Hombres Calientes is a recording that becomes more pleasurable and deeply satisfying with each listening. A brash statement by accomplished, young turks as well as a knowing depiction of cultural wealth from experienced hands, in the arena of multicultural achievements, Los Hombres Calientes deserves to go straight to the top of the list of what’s new, instructive, and exciting.
Los Hombres Calientes explore the breadth of international influences on New World music from Spanish-speaking and African-originated cultures, isolate the spiciest ingredients, and place them in a chamber-music setting that lends both clarity and definition to the ensemble blend. Veteran Bill Summers brings to this project an unimpeachable knowledge of Afro-Caribbean rhythms as well as the engineering-booth expertise required to authentically reproduce percussion elements across the stereo spectrum while allowing room to spare for individual instrumental voices.
Among the album’s standouts are two tunes familiar to American ears: a smoothly percolating rendition of “Stardust” set in a gently swaying bossa nova/samba backdrop, and an elegant, nostalgic version of “After You’ve Gone” played as a subtly aggressive cha-cha. “Rompe Saraguey,” a traditional son montuno complete with gravelled chorus underpinning, provides the strongest dose of enthomusicological authenticity, while “Irvin’s Crisis,” a bembe rhythm based on conga dynamics, allows vocalist Philip Manuel and trumpeter Mayfield the opportunity to employ bebop inflections around a percussion break by Summers that injects a traditional metameta chango.
Floating above the churning bed of rhythm throughout, Mayfield’s muted trumpet excursions sprint, pirouette, and glide with an airy authority attractively rendered in an expansive but finely polished timbre. The rhythmic framing of Victor Atkins’ percussive, chiming keyboard work provides just the right bridge from lead to rhythmic foundation, while Summers, Marsalis, David Pulphus on bass, and Yvette Bostic-Summers on vocals and percussion weave a deep but lively fabric of rhythmic colors and textures that is both awe-inspiring and intoxicating.
While the Afro-Cuban thing has threatened to become so hip lately that it flirts with becoming cliche, Los Hombres Calientes brings an immediacy and mastery to these proceedings that makes other, more prominent interpretations pale by comparison. With a freshness reflecting real spontaneity and a profound understanding of the material and each other that only real dedication and fierce commitment can provide, this recording sizzles with the fire of inspiration and smolders with the deep passion of accomplished artistry and spiritual expression.
