Danilo Perez

Panamanian pianist Danilo Perez presents himself as a formidable improviser on his debut album. The classically trained Perez worked with Dizzy Gillespie and Paquito d'Rivera before setting out on his own, and his groundings in bop harmonic invention and his rhythmic nuances of salsa are evident here. Perez offers a dazzling program of originals, standards, and vintage Cuban salsa. Perez is surrounded by quality sidemen including Santi Debriano on bass, Jack DeJohnette on drums, Joe Lovano and David Sanchez on tenor and soprano saxophones and vocalist Ruben Blades, who gives outstanding performances on the American standard "Skylark" and the classic Latin bolero "Solo Contigo Basta." --John Swenson