“When She Dances,” an instrumental piece by Serbian classical guitarist Aleksandar Cupara, is a lengthy yet consistently engaging display of dazzling Mediterranean-flavored fret work.
Sung in French but with a distinct Lusophone feel throughout the melody and groove, “Viens sentir le vent” by France’s Laure Trazzi is a lilting…
Afro Celt Sound System – OVA (Six Degrees Records, 2024) By the time he formed Afro Celt Sound System in 1995, multi-instrumentalist, producer, composer, and…
With their instrumental track “Baraúna,” a French band called Sapocaya expertly captures the point where Africa, Brazil, and jazz converge.
I don’t know if she’s actual royalty, but Cameroon’s Princess Vinia has a dandy of a track called “Barbasin” that starts with a beat tapped…
Clinton Fearon, formerly of the Gladiators and a longtime resident of Seattle, gives an added roots reggae boost to ‘Come with Us’ by the U.S.’s…
There’s been many a meeting between jazz and the rhythms of Latin America, and “Espiritu Samba” by American pianist Mariah Parker is a prime example…
Admitting with utmost candor that I liked it best when compact discs were the norm, I just as freely admit that the march of time…
An early reggae feel combined with the kind of harmonies that defined the era vocally, “And Not Another” by British/Guyanese collaboration First Born sounds like…
Swedish reggae band Babylon North expand the parameters of their genre with “Everything I Can (Flames).” The reggae pulse is suggested rather than fully present,…