🎶🌴🎷🎹🥁 In the early 90s, Dave Samuels, Paquito d’Rivera and Andy Narell, already well established in their careers, founded the Caribbean Jazz Project. A first album in 1995, then this second, Island Stories two years later, to showcase a Latin jazz between smooth and fusion, obviously very Caribbean, bolstered in particular by the sounds of Narell’s steel pans. Paquito d’Rivera adds the Cuban heritage of Irakéré, and Dave Samuels the jazz fusion influence of Spyrogyra. The three leaders surround themselves with long-time accomplices, in particular Dario Eskenazi on piano and Mark Walker on drums. The result is a colourful, shimmering album, at once danceable, virtuosic and at times nostalgic. The band’s own compositions weave a dialogue between jazz, cha cha, salsa, merengue and bolero. Two nods to Spain (Andalucia) and Argentina, with a cover of Piazzola’s Libertango. D’Rivera and Narell left the project after this album, but made regular appearances on subsequent albums under Samuels’ direction.
Island Stories – Caribbean Jazz Project, 1997
