Havana/New York

A very versatile player interested in combining folk music from other countries with jazz, David Amram has recorded surprisingly few records through the years as a leader. In fact, this excellent Flying Fish set was only his third album, and first since 1957. In 1977, several American musicians were able to travel to Cuba for a short visit, resulting in the lengthy "En Memoria de Chano Pozo," which matches Amram (on guitar, piano, flute, penny whistle, French horn, xylophone, and percussion) with an American rhythm section and two then-unknown Cubans: altoist Paquito D'Rivera and 20-year-old trumpeter Arturo Sandoval. Two other selections on the set mostly feature Americans (including trumpeter Thad Jones, baritonist Pepper Adams, and the tenor of Billy Mitchell) with some expatriate Cubans (including Candido and Ray Mantilla among the percussionists), while "Broadway Reunion" has Amram on flute sitting in with a visiting Cuban band on the streets of New York. This little-known release crosses several musical boundaries and is well-worth searching for.