On Zaccai Curtis' new disc, the pleasures are multifaceted. The opening "Earl" is a tribute to Bud Powell, Zaccai's great piano inspiration. Powell also gets a nod with the beautiful Victor Young ballad "When I Fall In Love," recorded by Powell in 1956. 'Thelonious Monk's "52nd Street Theme" is fractalized.
But Cubop Lives reaches another dimension on a cha-cha-cha arrangement of "Some Day My Prince Will Come." Like Noro Morales, the pianist runs his octaves cleanly. Luques Curtis (theleader's brother) plays a remarkably melodic bass solo and the refrain borrows from Bobby Capò's classic "Piel Canela." Zaccai's original "Maria Cervantes," for the Cuban pianist-singer-song-writer known as "the grand dame of Cuban vation or evocation of the past; this music allows music," fingers her as a subject for further study.
The sidemen do excellent work as well. Bongocero Reinaldo De Jesus nearly steals the show with his tart playing on "Maple Leaf Rag" and unaccompanied solo intro to "Oye Men." Also worth noting is Willie Martinez's dizzying timbales solo on "Let's Do It Again," and the bassist's call-and-response exchanges on the same track.
There are quotes all over the place, most notably the leader inserting Coltrane's "Mr P.C" on "Black Rice." Things end with Charlie Parker's "Moose The Mooche," from his 1946 Dial session. But this disc is not merely an excavation or evocation of the past; this music allows each curious generation to discover its hidden secrets. -Larry Appelbaum
Cubop Lives: Earl; Black Rice: 52nd Street Theme: When I Fall in Love: Cuban Fantasv. Wood'n You: Someday My Prince Will Come: Let's Do It Again; Jazzin'; Maria Cervantes; Oye Men; Stromboli; Rumbambola; Maple Leaf Rag: Contour; Minor's Holiday: Moose The Mooche. (72:19)
Personnel: Zaccai Curtis, piano; Willie Martinez, drums, voice, timbales; Camilo Molina, percussion; Reinaldo De Jesus, percussion, drums; Luques Curtis, bass.