Search - Ray Mantilla :: Man-Ti-Ya

Perhaps not really Latin jazz . . .

Jan P. Dennis | Monument, CO USA | 08/23/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

". . . more like jazz-tinged instrumental Latin dance-music. Splitting hairs? Maybe . . . but I think there's a real distinction to be made.



For example, this music strikes me as quite a bit more restrained than Latin jazz, with less improvization, tighter grooves, and a subtler approach to rhythm. Not that these guys can't expertly execute all of the above; it's just not their typical MO. Perhaps this music bears a similar relationship to Latin jazz as Stanton Moore's jazz/funk bears to straight-ahead jazz. In any case, Ray Mantilla is one of the finest if not THE finest practioner of this style of music alive today.



Not all jazz fans are going to get on board. Younger listeners, especially, will likely have a problem with it--there's just not enought going on. Or, rather, there may be enough going on, but it's just too subtle (especially rhythmically) for them to pick up on. That, at least, was the response of my 23-year-old aspiring jazz-fan son.



Nevertheless, Ray Mantilla is an absolute master of this jazz-tinged instrumental Latin dance-music. To hear him at the top of his game with his working band, everyone deeply grooving, listening carefully, and playing their butts off, makes a special listening experience. At least to these ears."