Aldana, Melissa - Filin

A stunning ballads album that presents a collection of songs drawn from Cuba’s filin music tradition performed by a remarkable quartet featuring pianist, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, bassist, Peter Washington, and drummer, Kush Abadey, as well as special guest vocalist, Cécile McLorin Salvant.

The end product is, in a word, stunning. It’s also unlike anything else in Aldana’s catalogue — or in 21st-century jazz on the whole. Throughout these eight tracks, the ensemble enacts a kind of stirring and emotional minimalism — a quiet intensity that places paramount importance on Aldana’s radiant delivery of the melody. This music moves slowly, simmering forward with great deliberation and restraint, which is all the more impressive once you consider the runaway virtuosity these players are capable of.