Barbarito Torres

Barbarito Torres: Havana Cafe

by Todd S. Jenkins
March 1, 2001

This disc of traditional Cuban music is another of the stellar releases coming in the wake of the excellent Buena Vista Social Club documentary. While the music on this disc might not qualify as “jazz” in some listener’s minds, Cuban music has a powerful pedigree in jazz circles; it had an inarguable influence on the development of Latin jazz from Dizzy Gillespie onwards. The magnificent songs onHavana Caféillustrate just how vital this music was to the evolution of Latin jazz, ...