Customer Rating: 
Summary: Dafnis Prieto's best effort yet
Comment: This is Dafnis Prieto's third disc as a leader, after About The Monks and Absolute Quintet, which were released on Zoho Records. Whereas his promise as a songwriter was already clear from those previous discs there was something that did not get me fully involved in those albums. Perhaps it was due to the fact that the intricacy of his compositions made it difficult to relate to it emotionally, perhaps it was due to the uncommon instrumentation of Absolute Quintet (I am not that into violin and cello in jazz music), all I know is that this problem is past with this brilliant recording.
As the title indicates and as mentioned in the liner notes by Dafnis himself, this music has a very emotional meaning and most of it was written as part of a grant by Chamber Music America "New Works" entitled "The Emotion Series" in the year 2006. The music can still be complex, but this time it is emotionally very involving and satisfying, also thanks to the strong melodic foundation of these compositions. This is further aided by the energetic lineup of the Sextet, consisting of Peter Apfelbaum and Yosvany Terry on reeds, Avishai Cohen on trumpet, Yunior Terry on bass, Manuel Valera on piano and the incomparable Dafnis on drums. The leader gives a strong forward motion to the music, without sounding too busy, because his incredibly dynamic drumming is always is in service of the music and never a goal in itself to show off. In a way his style can only be compared to Eric Harland, who also uses all possibilities offered by the drumset, although (luckily) the Cuban/latin origin always shines through in Dafnis' playing. Comandante, a tribute to Ernesto 'Che' Guevara, is a brilliant example of his 'holistic' drum approach, but there are many awe inspiring moments throughout this album. More importantly, however, there are quite a few 'shivers-down-the-spine' moments on the album. like in the lovely waltz "Tell Me About Her".
A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to see his Sextet (although Yosvany Terry and Avishai Cohen were very competently replaced) live in the Bimhuis in Amsterdam, where the music even came out more gloriously than on the album, because the sound on the recording (despite being recorded at the excellent Systems Two recording studio) is sometimes a bit harsh to my taste. Nevertheless, that is only a minor detail and does not prevent this disc from getting a top rating. Contemporary (afro cuban) jazz does not get much better than this and leaves us eagerly awaiting upcoming projects of this highly talented unique drummer and composer.
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