Aymée Nuviola: Havana Nocturne

Editor's Choice

Rating: ★★★★

Record and Artist Details

Musicians:

José ‘Majito’ Aguilera (perc)
Kemuel Roig (p)
Hilario Bell (d)
Lowell Ringel (b)
Aymée Nuviola (v)
Julián Ávila (g)

Label:

Worldwide Entertainment

May/2023

Media Format:

CD, DL

RecordDate:

Rec. date not stated

This new album from acclaimed Cuban vocalist Aymée Nuviola follows last year's Latin Grammy-winning Live in Marciac with pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba. The 13-song collection presents a compelling paean to filin, a style of jazz-influenced romantic song which rose to prominence in mid-20th-century Havana and whose musical roots can be traced to the bolero and canción. Heard back-to-back, the brace of songs by the legendary Cuban composer José Antonio Méndez, ‘Novia Mía’ and ‘Me faltabas tú’ – the latter featuring a gorgeous introduction courtesy of guitarist Julián Ávila and a perfectly judged solo from the outstanding Cuban-born, US-based pianist Kemuel Roig – are both standouts. Other highlights include the sumptuous Nuviola original, ‘Quédate’; César Portillo de la Luz's ‘Realidad y Fantasía’, in which Nuviola's gloriously rich timbre soars to ever greater heights; plus an impassioned take on René Touzet's ‘Me contaron de ti’ which immediately engraves itself on your heart.

The musical flavours are astutely varied; with the inclusion of ‘Obsesión’ by the Puerto Rican composer Pedro Flores, which shifts gears between bolero and cha-cha; the much-recorded (by Nat King Cole and others) ‘Perfidia’ by the Mexican composer Alberto Domínguez; and the closing tango, ‘Vete de mí’, by the Argentinian pianist and composer Virgilio Expósito.

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