Alfredo Rodríguez: Cuban Keys

With his debut album, Sounds of Space, Cuban pianist Alfredo Rodríguez arrives as part of a younger generation of jazz players whose music naturally and knowingly transcends boundaries. Noted producer Quincy Jones first heard the 26-year-old pianist at the Montreux Jazz Festival and became his mentor after he abandoned Havana to launch his international career in Los Angeles. With a nod to Jones, the album's opening track, "Qbafrica," celebrates the African roots of Latin jazz with a melody as viral as a pop hook. On "Crossing the Border," written right after Rodríguez arrived in the U.S., his talking piano pounds with the anticipation and anxiety of his solo journey from Cuba. "Sueño de Paseo" shows the pianist's tender side, and "...y bailaría la negra?," dedicated to the landmark Cuban composer Ernesto Lecuona, riffs on his Havana classical conservatory training. Rodríguez articulates the balance of Olympic-worthy keyboard acrobatics and balletic lyricism that is the pride of the Cuban piano tradition, traveling from Afro-Cuban beats to bebop, blues and beyond. – Judy Cantor-Navas, Google Play

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