News from the Music Industry

Pianist Ramón “Bebo” Valdés and violinist Federico Britos have something in common: They are equally fluent in the realms of jazz, Cüban/Latin American and classical music. Without any instrumental companions, this bionic duo is capable of interpreting, in an equally passionate manner, a series of well-known Pan-American landmarks (from Gershwin and Lecuona to Jobim and Piazzolla) and a few neglected but extraordinary tunes, before summarizing its hemispherical message in the final but celebratory Cuban danza titled Together and penned by Britos (Uruguayan by birth and Cuban by injection) to honor and praise his memorable encounter with Bebo (Cuban by birth and Swedish by injection). Let’s put it this way: I’ve never heard any other piano/violin summit as pleasurable and delightful as this 2002 Floridian session, previously released in Europe by Calle 54, Fernando Trueba’s groundbreaking madrileño label. Or as coproducer Nat Chediak explains it: “This duet date appeals to the senses with the discretion of a hushed murmur and the sweep of a full-blown symphony.” (LT)