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Have you tried emailing Felipe Luciano, who does the Latin Roots program on WBAI? It's the only music program I listen to on the radio. He knows everything about Latin Music. Just go to this contact page link. and enter his name in the search engine and there's an email form for him. I emailed him yesterday with some suggestions for his show. He totally freaked me out yesterday by saying that he was going to play the one song that describes himself best, and it turned out to be a Jackie McLean tune, "A Fickle Sonance", with some great Tommy Turrentine.on it.: https://wbai.org/contact.php

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Looking forward to the reveal! 1. I’m easily won over by bass clarinet. This player is particularly plummy, James Newton on flute? The technique and trills sound Newton-esque to me. Could this be from his Blue Note Ellington songbook record? (The brass feels like it’s drawing from an Ellingtonian palette). But this doesn’t sound particularly like an 80s production. Things seem to have stabilized with the head statement. I’m now getting Andrew Hill DUSK vibes…. could the tenor be Greg Tardy. In any event, there’s a kind of organic/protoplasmic looseness to the tempo here that reminds me of the ensemble work on DUSK. Suddenly the tune sounds more Iberian or even Latin that it did at first. Definitely not that Newton record, I’d wager. Could it be the drummer’s record/gig? Seems to me it could. Intriguing opening. 2. Joni Mitchell, SHADOWS AND LIGHT, surely, with Metheny and Jaco. Can’t remember who the sax player is on this one. Michael Brecker? Sounds like him for sure. I like about 3/4s of his solo, which is usually how it goes for me with breaker. So I’m considering my bias as to who this is confirmed. Digging most how the arrangement here differs from the studio version. And the rougher quality of Joni’s voice. Superb. 3. Hard-hitting. Sounds like it could come from the contemporary British jazz scene (if I can call it that) that’s produced the Sons of Kemet. The drumming probably too busy for some, but I appreciate how there’s a reckoning here with hip-hop, jungle, techno - other beat-centric innovations that Black musicians have driven. could this be Makaya McCraven? I know the name but not the work. I like how the trumpet player drops the temperature a bit, takes their time, navigates the bar lines differently. Channeling some Kenny Wheeler almost. 4. Tick-tock, you don’t stop! The vibes popping in kind of surprised me. And strings?!?! This less indebted to Zappa in some ways… not quite “The Black Page”. “The Charcoal Page”? It’s colorful, as track 1 was, but, if this were a painting, it would be more Hard-Edge than Post-Impressionist. Now it sounds almost like several different music streaming services playing different selections simultaneously. Not necessarily unengaging; that is, I don’t mind commentary with my music. Maybe if Mingus were around today, he’d be offering commentary not unlike this? 5. Could this be a LIVE FROM MAYBECK series recording? I like this player’s left hand. The figure played there is almost Tyner-esque. Also reminds me of some figures you hear in Chris McGregor’s playing. This is not Chris McGregor AFAIK but there is something about this that feels uncannily familiar. Around the 2:50 mark, the music veers more toward harmonies I’d call “classical”. Could this be Richie Beirach? Or maybe Denny Zeitlin? One of those “trained” players who were also fluent in musics we might describe as more “vernacular”? Nice resonances around the 4:45 mark. Now it’s almost Terry Riley-esque! 6. Speaking of left hands! The bassist is the hero of this track. No idea, but ti sounds like a reinvention of a pop tune of its time (late 60s/early70s if I had to guess). Not Ramsey Lewis, but kind of in that vein. I mean, I guess that could be the great Cleveland Eaton on bass… The pianist does feel a bit like a weak link here. But the groove is still strong. Block chords always welcome. Transition at about 4:30 a little rocky. OK, a live performance. Junior Mance? 7. The great Jeanne Lee (probably my favorite jazz vocalist ever) with Ran Blake and George Duvivier. Geniuses at work.  8. The Jack McDuff band with Red Holloway, Pat Martino, and Joe Dukes, perhaps? Guessing just based on the intro and the audience’s level of participation. But I want to say that’s a different tenor player. I almost hear some Clifford Jordan in his playing (though it’s not Clifford Jordan)… something about the way he bites into certain notes. Well, that’s because it’s Stanley Turrentine and Shirley Scott - I think. From those Impulse live dates. I’ll know more, I think, when the organ solos. Shirley being a master colorist. Candy Finch on drums? Yep, the organist immediately changes to a different voicing that I very much associate with Shirley. This is all incredibly tasty.  9. Betty Carter? Chances taken for sure. And what she’s doing with the lyrics. Master class. I’ve never understood while some listeners are left cold by Carter. I don’t know who’s in the band, but A+ for the drummer and their cymbal work. 10. The return of the left hand. Etude-like, this performance. Very after-hours. Is that a muted Diz? No idea on the guitar player or pianist though. Impeccable vibes, and there’s lots here that’s unexpected; over too soon! 11. Helen Merrill and Clifford Brown. The shading and nuance of this her performance. It’s like something of a Hitchcock movie. I don’t listen to this record often; I think I need to remedy that. 12. There’s a Steve Lacy influence at work here, I think, but the tone is not Lacy’s. More Euro-centric, if that makes sense. I mean, there are times when this almost sounds like a more chill King Crimson. John Surman. Accordion, eh? Could this be the Claudia Quintet with Ted Reichman? If so, I can hear how the horn player might be Chris Speed (fine player). But I don’t know about the other winds, or the percussion. I do like how this darts around. Even more intriguing than track 1. 13. A rather contemporary rhythm. Nice massing of horn sounds, though the tenor player to me has the same kind of undistinguished tone a lot of younger payers seem to have adopted. But the intensity picks up. The vibes make me wonder if this is Joel Ross, whose work I only know by reputation. It’s a bit lacking in excitement for me. But maybe excitement isn’t what they’re going for, the surge in tempo now and then notwithstanding. It does serve well as a closing track… that last note!