Search - Ray Armando & His Playground Quintet :: Mallet Hands

Conguero Ray Armando's remarkably assured and sophisticated Latin jazz disc, Mallet Hands, will surprise anyone who thinks that debut albums are supposed to be relatively green affairs. That's probably because while Mallet Hands is indeed Armando's first recording as a leader, he's already a veteran of the bands of Latin jazz legends Tito Puente, Gato Barbieri, and Eddie Palmieri. He has also worked with Brazilian legends Antonio Carlos Jobim and Joao Gilberto and has even toured with jazz icons like Tony Williams, and Freddie Hubbard. That experience pays off in a big way on Mallet Hands, which features Armando and his top-flight band roaring through a set that mixes standard jazz tunes with original compositions, all of them arranged with an exciting level of detail sometimes missing in the Latin jazz world. "Con Mi Guanguanco," an Armando original, kicks things off in a traditional Afro-Cuban vein and gives Armando and saxophonist Benn Clatworthy plenty of room to strut their formidable solo chops. Elsewhere, the leader shines with some interesting arrangements of standard tunes, especially on the Bolero-style reading of Miles Davis and Ron Carter's classic "Eighty-One" and the Brazilian samba-tinged take on Claire Fischer's "Elizette." --Ezra Gale