An Infusion of New Fusion From Cuba

The wealth of music pouring out of Cuba covers every aspect of the rich encounter between African rhythms and the island nation’s traditional sounds, from Afro-Cuban jazz and son to Nueva Trova and salsa. The only element that has not received much attention in this country has been the jazz fusion blendings popular with young Cuban musicians since the ‘80s.

Friday night’s program at LunaPark provided an opportunity to hear some of the fusion sounds, as well as a powerful set of performances from the legendary Cuban percussionist Pancho Quinto.

The set opened with Bellita, one of Cuba’s rare female jazz pianists, in an intriguing collection of rhythmic, fusion-styled tunes with her group, Jazztumbata. The music was fleet, melodic and effervescent. And its amalgamation of sounds reached beyond jazz and Cuba to embrace the floating rhythms and subtle harmonies of Brazil.

Aided by her longtime accompanist, the talented multi-instrumentalist Miguel Miranda Lopez, Bellita played an electronic piano, scat sang and tossed in some percussion for good measure. Her lightning-quick lines, combining voice and piano, mixed the urgent propulsion of jazz accents with a roiling undercurrent of Afro-Cuba rhythms.

Lopez was equally fascinating, somehow managing to play electric bass with his left hand, while articulating surging rhythms on conga drums with his right hand.

Quinto joined Bellita in a subtle but powerfully influential role, quietly demonstrating his mastery of the cajon, or wooden box. But his dramatic capacity to shift among a variety of Afro-Cuban rhythms took the spotlight when he was joined by drummer Octavio Rodriquez and singers Lazaro Rizo and “El Negro.”

Although here, too, Quinto’s role seemed interior and supportive, his powerful undercurrent of rhythms was clearly the sparkplug that energized the music. In his hands, a colorful tapestry of sounds--son and rumba, Mexican rancheras and complex African rhythms--transcended their multiplicity of sources to become, simply, irresistibly appealing music.