Cuban composers and instrumentalists are relentless in their quest to honor the past while projecting…
The set opens with “A Rock con Leche” (Rock With Milk). The title is a sly commentary on the preponderance of stones found in bags of rice Cubans buy to make a favorite dessert. The arrangement begins with ethereal whistling and a mesmerizing chant. Then, Zaldivar’s keyboards spring into action with the ferocity of a marauding pack of jungle cats. His piano pumps out a rollicking vamp while he simultaneously serves up searing blasts of synth-style voicings that wouldn’t be out of place on a 1970s fusion date by Weldon Irvine. Folkloric, Africa-rooted works like “Arará” (named for a minority group of Afro-Cubans) are shaped by the cadence of batá drums and chanting in a West African dialect. Here, Zaldivar favors spare arrangements and a delicate touch, settling for an occasional sprinkling of notes or a mood-setting chord. The pianist offers a genuine surprise on an unexpected cover of “Unforgettable,” the 1950s-era hit by Nat “King” Cole, tenderly rendered as a bolero.
Zaldivar’s triumph is his sensitive re-envisioning of traditions he learned as a youth in his homeland. Consecration could serve as a soundtrack to a spiritual retreat in some distant rain forest. — Mark Holston