Live at Ronnie Scott’s, Birmingham

Remastered at Abbey Road from an analogue recording sourced from the British Library, this live set dates back to 1995, when veteran Cuban jazz ambassadors and timba progenitors Irakere were, in the understated words of their famous pianist/leader Chucho Valdés,‘focuseda little more on dancing rhythms.’ For those unfamiliar with his band’s work, John Armstrong’s illuminating liner notes do a good job of putting it in context. And while the album was always going to have a hard time matching their acclaimed Ronnie Scott’s date in London four years earlier, it’s a valiant attempt nevertheless, flaring into life with the horn-fired combustion of ‘Pare Cochero’.

Featuring Juan Munguía and Adalberto Lara ‘Trompetica’ on trumpets, César López on alto saxophone and Alfredo Thompson on tenor, Irakere’s horn section snaps and brays, slashes and burns, igniting the tropicalised Cole Porter motif of ‘La Explosion’ and burning through the heavy duty neo-timba of ‘Tema del Gordo’. ‘Yemayá’ is Irakere’s tribute to a Santería deity, with Chucho Valdés’ scat-singing sister, Mayra, offering praise that escalates from the sultry to the oesophagus-shredding. Valdés himself is incendiary throughout, demonstrating his creative debt to Thelonious Monk on signature composition, ‘Mister Bruce’, for which he was later to bag a Grammy. All in all, this is an important document of mid-90s Afro-Cuba, just before the Buena Vista Social Club watershed.