Chocolate Armenteros leads a stripped-down Latin jazz sextet – with his trumpet in the lead, and backing by piano, flute, bass, and percussion. The approach works perfectly – and the album's a straight batch of tracks that's probably one of Chocolate's greatest albums of the past 25 years. His sparkling solos make the whole thing work quite well, and the settings give him plenty of room to solo freely. Titles include "Montuno Caliente", "Trompeta En Montuno", "Chocolate En Guajira", and "Trompeta En Cueros". LP, Vinyl record album

An incredible collaboration between pianist Eddie Palmieri and vibist Cal Tajder – a record done for Tico in answer to their previous session for Verve – and a set that's even harder-jamming overall! Cal and Eddie really find something special together on the record – and both players groove into a descarga mode that burns even more strongly than their own other work of the decade – a masterful jam that's a really true collaboration, and which brings out the best that both musicians had to offer. Cal's moving way beyond his familiar modes here – with a fluid, freely colorful sound – and Eddie himself is beginning to hit some of the darker, harder notes that would show up even more strongly on his records of the 70s. There's a much more strongly jazz-based sound here than most of Palmieri's previous records – a really bold focus on the instrumentation as it rolls out over some great modally-informed grooves – and titles include "Bamboleate", "Resemblance", "Guajira Candela", "Mi Montuno", and "Come An Get It". CD