Cuban Fantasy

The music is engagingly and creatively arranged, and all is superbly well performed. The addition of Jan-Luc van Eendenburg's congas and bongos add a delightful further flavoring and are tastefully blended into the overall musical ethos of the ensemble. There is a somewhat mellow, reflective tone to the entire album, which makes for very relaxed and enjoyable listening. With considerable variety across the selections I found myself constantly engaged in the melodies, rhythms and interplay of the artists. The songs with a driving beat and greater urgency, like La Mulata Rumbera, added just enough spice to keep everything interesting while not being completely out of place. All of this is just very nicely done!

The recorded sound quality is excellent, as always from Frans de Rond. Yes, this is multi-mic'd. But it is so skillfully done that you'd not notice it. Instead, what you have is a fully integrated soundscape encompassing four musicians and their instruments—nothing spot lit, nothing sounding "out of whack." And this result my friends, reflects very skillful placement to manage the various phase characteristics so all sounds seamless as one. Quite an accomplishment!