Cuba in New York
Derrick Smith | Richmond, CA | 02/16/2000
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Milton Cardona has appeared on scores of recordings but has largely remained the figure of a masterful percussionist - one who "merely" maintains the rhythmic (and often melodic) structure of the piece while staying just out the spotlight. This album presents his vision, which blends and diffracts the Afro-Cuban philosophy and experience with the sound of New York, in which Coltrane's sober modalities and reflective doo-wop harmonies overlay dense layers of percussion and a mixed-sex chorus. A couple of tracks extend themselves beyond the point of interest of anyone not specifically interested in the diasporic interpretation of Yoruban rites, but the album as a whole is elegant, warm, and strong."