Amanda Martinez, Mañana

Oh, the places you'll see--or rather the music you'll hear--when you open yourself to the world. Latin music, for example, continues to flourish. How could it not? It has deep roots and lives, thrives and comes at you if you open up.

Like for example here is this beautiful singer-songwriter, Amanda Martinez, and her band doing something very magnetizing on their album Manana (Factor) (And of course now I cannot get the accent to come up here so I look like gringo mas grande. Sorry.) Manana-Manana-Manana, damn! Anyway she sings like an angel and I believe these are HER songs. The band has prominent Spanish guitar and tres playing yet the rhythm has both traditional and modern funkish overtones. There are some beautiful guitar spots.

And her singing makes me feel like it's spring. (At the moment, it seems to be that anyway!) This all is going down in Canada, at least the album was recorded there. But it's for us all, everywhere.

One fine album, this is! I am moved, impressed, and wish my accent buttons would work!

Carmen Cuesta, toda una vida...

The musical category of "Latin" has a potential vastness. It encompasses so much as to be almost a conundrum. Yet it has validity in the world of divisions and markets. So today we have something in a Latin jazz, Latin vocal realm. Something good.

Singer Carmen Cuesta, a native of Spain, has been thriving doing Brazilian classic bossa. In her new one she turns a bit, doing a Spanish-language-oriented series of songs Latin, some with a pronounced bolero flavor. The album is called toda una vida... (Tweety Records 0004).

The music is an eclectic mix that works well thanks to the real artistry of Ms. Cuesta's sensuous and musically astute vocals. Guitarist Chuck Loeb co-produced the album with Carmen and Paco Ortega. He is responsible for the nicely done arrangements and adds his acoustic and electric guitar throughout, sometimes to stunning effect. You will most certainly recognize some Latin standards here and others maybe won't be familiar, but they all have a special stamp of very personal vocal stylings and nice arrangements.

It's all pretty jazzy and done with perfect taste and imagination.

Carmen Cuesta is a phenomenon. Chuck Loeb gives her a near perfect backdrop.