Propulsive Tolu Conquers Revel-Rousers

Tolu hit the stage like a whirlwind Thursday night at Catalina Bar & Grill. Superheated sets by this explosive Latin jazz band are not particularly unusual, but this time out they started out hot and turned the burners up with each number.

Part of the energetic drive appeared to be motivated by a somewhat unusual situation in the club, in which half the room was filled by an organization celebrating a holiday dinner, with the other half consisting of dedicated Tolu fans. Greeted by a high-decibel level of noise from the dinner celebrators, Tolu drummer and co-leader Alex Acuna fired the group’s powerful four-man rhythm team into a propulsive surge that spilled across the entire room, immediately capturing everyone’s attention.

According to Tolu’s other co-leader, saxophonist Justo Almario, the band was originally formed as a Pan-American ensemble in the early ‘80s because “musicians wanted a space to improvise within the realm of Latin music and were not allowed to do so in the Latin clubs.”

One suspects that considerably more improvising is taking place in dance venues these days, but whatever it took to bring Almario, Acuna and their gifted players together has to be considered a fortunate development for fans of stirring Latin jazz music.

Colombian-born Almario and Peruvian Acuna have created a band that seamlessly integrates first-rate jazz improvising with genres ranging from Afro-Cuban rhythms to Dominican merengue and Colombian cumbia.

Among the more interesting examples bursting out of the first set Thursday were a visceral re- casting of Bill Evans’ “Five”; Almario’s whimsical, audience-engaging “El Bongo De Van Gogh”; and a Latin funk romp through “Peace Pipe.”

Almario’s soloing was, as always, a consistent blend of emotional exuberance and sheer technical wizardry. Trombonist Arturo Velasco, trumpeter Harry Kim and pianist Joe Rotondi added their own imaginative variations.

But it was the rhythm team of Acuna, Luis Conte, Ricardo Pasillas and Michito Sanchez that provided the pulsing heartbeat for a holiday evening in which the real celebration honored the spirited, compatible blending of so many marvelous American (North and South) musical forms.