David Sánchez: Manto Azul

This band plays with great vitality and the rhythm section creates a vibrant cushion for David Sánchez's confident tenor work. Sánchez's technical command is impressive, although I sometimes feel that he is presenting what he has worked over in the practice room rather than improvising what he hears in the moment. Guitarist Lage Lund takes a coy solo that provides a suggestive counter to Sánchez's heroics. But the star of this track, to my ears, is drummer Adam Cruz, who brings the whole composition to life. He never falls into an expected pattern, always running around the center of the beat rather than hammering it home, yet still managing to drive the performance.