Alfredo Valdés Jr. - De la Habana a Nueva York, 2006 release.

Valdés, from Cuba and a longtime resident of New York, recorded the tunes on the album with his rhythm section in New York. The horns and coros were added in Havana, and the mixture is pretty great, great enough you wish that Valdés could go to Havana and record the whole thing there. This is a descarga, of which Valdés, a senior statesman of the music in New York, would know something about. And when he solos, his chords dropping percussively, he draws out an extraordinary sound from the piano. There`s some incredible singing, too, with Juan Pina singing with the sort of high tenor voice that older singers had singers like Pio Leyva. Lazaro More, Paniagua and Cordovi are there, singing also, and the coro includes Ciso Guanche and Jose Lussón, Jr.. And the tracks last, the way descarga tracks should. The highest praise I can give the recording is that it gives me the same sort of pleasure I get from the brilliant series of SAR recordings made in the `70s and `80s. I guess it`s not surprising that Valdés was an integral part of those records also. Non-stop pleasure.

1. Cheche Kiriwa

2. Getsemanicense

3. La Sitiera

4. Se Te Cayo El Tabaco

5. Bombolaye

6. Desconfianza

7. Sacando Palo Del Monte

8. El Guayo De Catalina

9. Medley De Congas