The Cuban classical pianist Yamilé Cruz Montero and the Greek jazz drummer Christos Asonitis are a couple in life and also in music. 

Although they come from two different musical worlds, they have found a common language as it appears on their first album “Rapsodia Cubana” released by Naxos World Music. It combines multiple references that draw associations between past and present, tradition and contemporaneity, classical universes and the worlds of popular music, all of which define the artistic vision that Yamilé Cruz Montero and Christos Asonitis created.

“Rapsodia Cubana” features pieces of composers such as José María Vitier (1954), Ernán López-Nussa (1958), Andrés Alén (1950) and Aldo López-Gavilán (1979).

All represent the broad spectrum of contemporary Cuban piano, and showcase the technical expertise of classical pianism, integrated with popular Cuban, Latin and North American genres.

Reviews

“Every piece on this amazing album leaps out at you from your speakers like a juggernaut, and each one is fascinating… Is there such a thing as a perfect album? This one surely comes close. Everything about it is charming, engaging and attractive, and there is clearly enough musical variety among these pieces to make it a must-have disc for those who like both Latin classical and pop-jazz music. Maravillosa!”
(Lynn René Bayley, The Art Music Lounge, January 2021) 

Personnel

Yamilé Cruz Montero – piano
Christos Asonitis – drums, conga, cajon, maracas, guiro, triangle, pandeiro
Sound engineering – Manfred Hübel

Recorded at Kammermusiksaal at Steingräber Haus, Bayreuth, Germany