Sammy Figueroa is still one of the most striking percussionists to grace the jazz scene. Formerly a sideman with both Miles and Rollins, he's gone on to become such a successful leader that two out of his three CDs have been nominated for a Grammy. Imaginary World is his best yet. It may not make many Top Ten lists in December, but this is a consistently absorbing album which introduces two exceptionally talented composer/arrangers – pianist Silvano Monasterios and bassist Gabriel Vivas (both excellent soloists too) – each with a distinctively individual approach to creating a melodic jazz concept underscored by Figueroa's constantly swinging, always interesting African-based rhythms and the striking jazz-meets-latin drumming of David Chiverton. The Monasterios tunes are all of interest with ‘Flow of the Universe’, with its broken-up-rhythm and building ensembles having probably the most originality. Vivas utilises soprano saxophone a lot in his orchestral patterns – especially on ‘The Jumping Blue Jay’ and ‘Mysterious Energy’, which is probably the best cut here. M. Shellar's ‘Cubado’ completes the session. Nice trumpet by Alex Norris throughout, incidentally. He also has a recent leader-album worth checking out on Brooklyn Jazz Underground called Extension Deadline featuring Gary Thomas, George Colligan and Rudy Royston. If you buy it, you'll play it a lot. It's extremely good of its kind.