Purple Cha Cha Heels

Album Review

This Boston, MA-area horns/percussion quintet is billed as a mambo band with pop sensibilities. The group features two trombonists, a percussionist, trumpeter, and baritone saxophonist. With this effort, they commingle mid-tempo, Latin-drenched choruses with peppery grooves and layered, mini-big band-type arrangements. The music is snappy, affable, and undeniably festive. The musicians' loose demeanor provides the radiant sheen that embellishes this production. And while this recording resides within the jazz idiom, the band merges a contemporary vibe with familiar stylistic elements. A joyful celebration of the musical spirits, for sure. On pieces such as "Tjader Dude" (a reference to the late vibist Cal Tjader), the band pursues elements of clave, with complex horn passages atop percussionist Ana Norgaard's pumping rhythms. Nonetheless, the artists' fluid motion is augmented by their perky arrangements, amid a few keenly executed twists and turns. A good shot of adrenaline for the Latin jazz genre indeed.