Arturo O'Farrill and Claudia Acuña Venture Outside the Expected Margins

Arturo O'Farrill is a renowned cross-pollinator who's constantly blurring the line between jazz and Latin music. Here he teams up with the wonderfully eclectic vocalist Claudia Acuña who is just as adept at navigating multiple streams with masterful fluidity. The project materialized after O'Farrill and Acuña decided to collaborate for the pure fun of it, a simple philosophy that shines through the album's twelve tracks. Together, the arranger/pianist/composer and the Chilean chanteuse interpret an unconventional repertoire and exude the kind of unbridled joy that can only come from a partnership rooted in friendship and mutual admiration. From the coquettish title track opener, "In These Shoes" to the Afro-Cuban closer "La Piye" the only commonality shared is a free-reign insouciance that makes the album whole. Cuts such as Brazilian roots rocker Lenine's "Paciencia," and Van Morrison's "Moondance," are just some of the protean offerings to set a new standard in the continuously expanding and melding jazz universe. Cuban drummer Dafnis Prieto's "Vida Sin Miel" has a quirky, impish vibe punctuated by eerie guitar stabs courtesy of Adam Rogers and "Willow Weep for Me," a jazz standard recorded by all the great performers of our time, is given off-center treatment as a funkified Cha Cha Cha with percolating rhythmic changes and exhilarating solos from O'Farrill on piano and Yosvany Terry on sax. Once again O'Farrill and his musical acolytes have carved out a new space outside the boundaries and it sounds like a future unbound by sonic borders.