Sweet and Bold Jazz

Sweet and Bold Jazz

Bruce Von Stiers

Jose Guzman is a jazz guitarist based in Chicago. He leads a group called The Afro-Caribbean Jazz Collective. This ensemble has released three highly acclaimed albums.

This year finds Guzman and the collective releasing their fourth album. The title of the album is Cortadito. The album has seven songs and features five original compositions from Guzman.

There are several very talented musicians in the ensemble and on this album. Victor Garcia is on trumpet. Brian Stark is on tenor sax. Ben Carrasquillo is on trombone. Javier Quintana plays the congas and barril. Victor “Junito” Gonzalez does the bongos and bell. He also plays timbales on one song. Michael Rodriguez plays timbales on the other songs and does the bongos and bell on one song. The bass player is Andrey Goncalvez. Jose Natal also does barril. And Jose Guzman is on guitar.

Orchard Downs is a fun tune with a lot of trumpet, sax and bongos that bring forth a head bopping beat.

Holande Pa Uste is a cool song with a lot of sax and mild guitar that Guzman states finds its foundation in the Puerto Rican bomba rhythm, holandes.

A Sunday Kind of Day has a light samba backdrop and cool trombone and trumpet. They sneak is some nice guitar near the end of the song.

The group does an excellent job with the Roberto Cantoral love song, El Reloj.

Witches Dance is a head bopping tune with a guitar lead-in and a lot of trumpet, sax and bongos.

Terminal 5 is soft and gentle. It was on Guzman's visit to family in Orlando after his father's passing that inspired this song. The location mentioned in the song title is a O'Hare airport terminal.

El Volcan closes the album. It is a fast-paced tune with great sax and a cool, almost samba beat. This song was composed by Brian Stark.

There is a Cuban coffee drink called Cortadito that is made with steamed milk and strong expresso. It is known as a drink that's sweet and creamy, yet bold. As an abstract of that description, the songs on this album are at times sweet and other times very bold. It is an album well worth listening to.

Cortadito is slated to be released at the end of November, 2025.

To find out more about Cortadito and The Afro-Caribbean Jazz Collective, visit https://acjcmusic.com/

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