Francisco Aguabella - H2O (1999) {Cubop CBCD024}
One of the greatest new albums from this legendary conga player! Although Francisco Aquabella is probably best known to Dusty Groove customers for his 70's funk classic "Hitting Hard", or his work with the group Malo – in recent years, he's emerged as quite an important player on the Latin jazz scene, and is starting to return to the recording scene in a strong way. This album slightly predates Aguabella's current efforts for Cubop, but it's a similar session, with an excellent Latin jazz groove, and a moody mellow feel that shows Aquabella's heritage as a west coast Latin player. Charles Owens is in the band on reeds, and most of the tracks are instrumentals, with only occasional vocal choruses. The Latin Jazz component of the album is very very strong – and this is a totally satisfying session throughout!
