On NUEVA TIMBA, the new Blue Note album from the Cuban-born pianist Harold López-Nussa, the jazz vanguard meets multiple eras of Cuba’s musical history with results that are at once accessible, life-affirming and strikingly accomplished. Featuring a core of unmatched talent — Harold’s brother, Ruy Adrian López-Nussa, on drums; Luques Curtis on bass; and the harmonica virtuoso Grégoire Maret — it presents a definitive vision for the future of Latin jazz. López-Nussa condenses the power of Benny Moré’s big band on “Bonito y Sabroso,” adding modern, psychedelic hues; offers a master class in classical virtuosity with an arrangement of Ernesto Lecuona’s “Gitanerias”; and highlights his family’s musical dynasty with a sublime rendition of “Niña Con Violin,” a piece written by his uncle, the acclaimed pianist Ernán López-Nussa.
For all its overwhelming mastery, however, this album is foremost a journey — a deeply personal narrative rooted in profound, often painful life changes. NUEVA TIMBA tells the very real story of a man displaced: a young father finding his way in a new country while missing his homeland with heartrending intensity; all the while, he’s nursing other emotional wounds including the passing of his mother, and the compounding torment brings him to a state of despair. Slowly but surely, sunshine begins to poke through the clouds, and he discovers a path forward. Something like happiness returns to the horizon. Consider NUEVA TIMBA musical tears of joy.
