Pianist, Arranger and Vocalist Gino Amato has assembled a remarkable cast of Jazz greats for his new CD, "Latin Crossroads". Amato has picked a wonderful mix of songs from Broadway, The Great American Songbook, Jazz and Pop music and transformed them into beautiful Afro-Cuban Jazz. Amato's objective for "Latin Crossroads" was to present Latin music in an accessible format that would spotlight Latin rhythms. Amato has more than accomplished this objective. His arrangements of these classic songs and his ability to fuse them with Latin rhythms is brilliant and fresh. Looking over the playlist of songs, one certainly wonders how he could accomplish this. Injecting a Latin rhythum into Michel Legrand's "The Summer Knows" and Monk's "Round Midnight " is not an easy task. But Gino Amato accomplished this challenge brilliantly. Think about the difficulty of recording this CD using 46 different musicians. That in itself is a remarkable achievement. I can't image how long it took to finish this CD and the cost must have been considerable. I am delighted to say that the results of Gino Amato's efforts have produced a sensational amount of Latin Inspired music. I am already longing for a "Latin Crossroads II".
I have attached two "YouTube" videos so you can experience the Gino Amato experience for yourself. The first song I choose was Paul McCartney's "Blackbird" that features vocalist Arnold McCuller, Pianist and co-producer Oscar Hernandez, Flutist Andrea Brachfeld and Trombonist Louis Bonilla. The second song is Joaquin Rodrigo's "Concerto For Aranjuez". This classic song was immortalized by Miles Davis and Gil Evans on their "Sketches Of Spain" album.
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