Pianists
Arturo O'Farrill
and
Chucho Valdes
celebrate their rich musical family legacies on 2017's ambitious, gloriously realized
Familia: Tribute to Bebo & Chico
. Although they grew up on separate shores,
O'Farrill
in New York (via Mexico) and
Valdes
in Cuba, they both came of age in musical households as the sons of legendary Cuban bandleaders
Chico O'Farrill
Bebo Valdes
. Along with icons like
Chano Pozo
,
Machito
, and
Dizzy Gillespie
, the elder
were giants of Afro-Cuban music. Similarly, just as their fathers helped further the dissemination and creative development of Afro-Cuban and Latin jazz,
Arturo
Chucho
are innovators in their own rights, with decades of experience playing both traditional Cuban music and ultra-modern jazz. Impressively, they bring all that history to bear on
Familia
, a two-disc collection featuring songs composed by their fathers, as well as new compositions inspired by their lives growing up in such deeply artistic families. Joining them here are their equally talented children, including trumpeter
Adam O'Farrill
, drummer
Zack O'Farrill
, pianist
Leyanis Valdes
, and drummer
Jessie Valdes
. Also on board are the members of
's own Grammy Award-winning
Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra
. Disc one primarily features the
and finds
taking a more traditional, if still dazzling approach on cuts like the merengue-infused "BeboChicoChuchoTuro" and a lushly orchestrated reading of
' "Ecuacion." Also compelling are the pianist's solo turns on
's "Pianitis" and
's homage to his parents, "Fathers, Mothers, Sons, Daughters," which features several sparkling cadenzas from pianist
. Disc two showcases the smaller, post-bop-leaning
Third Generations Ensemble
, in which they explore the more progressive edges of Afro-Cuban jazz. Here, trumpeter (and third place finisher at the 2014 Thelonious Monk Jazz Competition)
shines, revealing his knack for harmonically adventurous improvisation a la
Woody Shaw
on the kinetic and fractured "Run and Jump." Similarly, the trumpeter breathes new life into
's "Pura Emocion" framed by his father's taut, angular arrangement. Elsewhere,
contributes the expansive "Gonki Gonki" (his mother's way of describing the sound of rhythmic piano montunos) and
offers the lushly virtuosic solo track "Para Chico." The sheer amount of virtuosity on display on
might well be overwhelming if the music itself weren't so warmly and beautifully rendered. ~ Matt Collar