Roberto Magris Sextet Live in Miami @ the WDNA Jazz Gallery (J Mood)
Widely experienced and recorded in Europe, pianist Magris demonstrates in this club date that he knows how to reach an American audience steeped in Latin and Caribbean music. The front line has trumpeter Brian Lynch at his fieriest, and the imaginative young tenor saxophonist Jonathan Gomez. The Miami-area rhythm section is the veteran bassist Chuck Bergeron, drummer John Yarling, and Murph Aucamp playing congas. The album gives insight not only into Magris’s appeal at the keyboard, but also his flexibility as a composer. His “African Mood,†Il Bello Del Jazz†and “Chachanada†have drive and excitement that contrast with his adaptation of Rahssan Roland Kirk’s ballad “April Morning†and an unaccompanied solo on Billy Strayhorn’s “A Flower Is A Lovesome Thing.†Those relaxing moments are highlights, but—with good reason—the crowd’s most enthusiastic response is to the Latin- and Afro-tinged burners.