CD review: Arturo O’Farrill The Afro Latin Jazz Ensemble – Dreaming In Lions 2021: Video, CD cover

GRAMMY-winning composer, bandleader, and pianist Arturo O’Farrill has fulfilled what he calls “a lifelong dream” with his signing to Blue Note Records and the release of his Blue Note debut …dreaming in lions…

The album finds O’Farrill leading a colorful 10-piece assemblage he calls The Afro-Latin Jazz Ensemble, a scaled-down edition of his renowned Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra. The program encompasses two inspired multi-movement suites that O’Farrill has conceived in collaboration with the Cuban Malpaso Dance Company: “Despedida,” a meditation on farewells, and “Dreaming in Lions,” inspired by Ernest Hemingway’s novella The Old Man and the Sea.

For O’Farrill, suites afford the space to convey extended narratives and cinematic ideas, a broadness of scope and intent that interests him most as a composer. Like his father, the late legendary bandleader Chico O’Farrill, he is committed to breaching musical boundaries in search of genuine, elevated expression. “I’m so grateful for my father and all my mentors who challenged me to be more open to different influences,” O’Farrill says. He has transmitted these values in turn to his sons, trumpeter Adam O’Farrill and drummer Zack O’Farrill, both of whom are featured on dreaming in lions. Joining them are multi-percussionists Vince Cherico, Carlos “Carly” Maldonado and Victor Pablo Garcia Gaetan, bassist José “Bam Bam” Rodriguez Platiau, trombonist and euphonist Rafi Malkiel, flutist/saxophonist Alejandro Aviles, and guitarist Travis Reuter.

01. Despedida: Del Mar (5:43)
02. Despedida: Intruso (5:07)
03. Despedida: Beauty Cocoon (3:54)
04. Despedida: Ensayo Silencio (5:22)
05. Despedida: La Llorona (7:52)
06. Dreaming In Lions: Dreaming In Lions (6:31)
07. Dreaming In Lions: Scalular (4:09)
08. Dreaming In Lions: How I Love (4:31)
09. Dreaming In Lions: The Deep (4:39)
10. Dreaming In Lions: War Bird Man (2:32)
11. Dreaming In Lions: Struggles And Strugglets (5:04)
12. Dreaming In Lions: I Wish We Was (2:38)
13. Dreaming In Lions: Blood In The Water (3:36)
14. Dreaming In Lions: Dreams So Gold (3:28)