The influential acoustic bassist-composer Avishai Cohen has been on a Latin tip ever since cutting his teeth on the 1990's NYC Smalls Jazz club scene. Stints with Danilo Perez's Trio, Claudia Acuña and – especially – Chick Corea, as part of his excellent Origin band and trio, plus his exceptional initial releases as leader including those with his International Vamp Band through the late 1990s to early noughties, demonstrate the Latin influence at the heart of his playing. But it's largely an element that's been reinvented within a jazz context.

The duo on Iroko with the conguero-vocalist Abraham Rodriguez Jr goes right back to the roots, even if the Afro-Cuban heritage of Cohen's low-profile partner is flavoured with the Nuyorican cultural diversity of his New York upbringing. Although their collaborations stretch back about 30 years, it's the kind of dialogue that Avishai is quoted on the sleeve notes as saying he “always dreamed about” and plans to extend the group and tour are ongoing. On the recording Cohen also takes a little break as a composer, as outstanding as he's been in that area, with a set largely made up of traditional Afro-Cuban folk song and chant sung in traditional Yoruban language by Rodriguez.

There are pleasant surprises along the way in a few engaging takes on western song: one of them being the James Brown classic ‘It's a Man's Man's World’ with its playful Latin makeover and vocal duet working a treat, as does their take on the title theme to the 1960 movie Exodus, which is highlighted by the appealing sonority of Cohen's fibrously percussive bass. As intimate and soulful as any of Cohen's projects.