Yosvany Terry Quintet: Retro Cuban Jazz

performed on November 03  2006, British Virgin Islands

The first thing that struck me about the Yosvany Terry Quintet was its relative youthfulness.  This was not the first time that the Jazz Showcase has featured young leaders; however, this was an altogether youthful cohort of inspired musicians.

At the top of the show, some of the beats and rhythms completely eluded me, but just for a time.  One song in particular, a vamp, sounded disjointed to my ears at first, as though each player had his own story to tell and went about his way independent of his other band mates.  The structure of that song, and the entire concert obviously, was entirely contrived so this is not a commentary on cohesiveness – quite the opposite.

Then I recalled that Terry has the avant-garde trait and, suddenly, I understood what I was hearing.   I sourced “Modal Miles” and the Free Jazz of Ornette Coleman to bring the disparate elements of Terry’s music together in my mind.

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