Mark Levine
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Since pianist Mark Levine founded his masterly Afro-Caribbean jazz ensemble The Latin Tinge in the late 1990s, the band has assembled a beautiful and fascinating book by applying a variety of Cuban grooves to American Songbook standards and compositions by contemporary post-bop composers such as Mulgrew Miller, Kenny Garrett, Cedar Walton, and Charles Tolliver.
Levine’s new Latin Tinge album, Off & On, takes the band’s fertile concept into thrilling, uncharted territory, interpreting a dozen exquisite tunes by the late, revered Brazilian composer Moacir Santos. Featuring the dazzling rhythm section tandem of Paul van Wageningen on trap drums and Michael Spiro on hand percussion, expert bassist John Wiitala, and Brazilian-jazz veteran Mary Fettig on flute, soprano sax, and bass clarinet, the Latin Tinge treats Santos’s sophisticated arrangements much like its post-bop repertoire. While the melodies are unmistakably Brazilian, Levine transposes Santos’s compositions from “from Recife to Havana.” Click here to read more...
