Israel "Cachao" Lopez

Sink your teeth into a release that captures Cuban music's enrapturing group dynamics and jazz's technical virtuosity. Cachao heads a veritable army of great musicians (Francisco Aguabella, Paquito D'Rivera and Jimmy Bosch among them) through his own originals (mostly). Stunning descargas, or improvisations, litter the album; "El Progresso" is a slow sizzle.

As an instant fan of its precedessor, I find this too hyperactive and choppy to listen easy. Cut by cut, however, it seldom slips to acceptable. Discerning no serious letdown between the showpiece that sets veteran sonero Rolando Laserie to "stalking the melody" of "El Guapachoso" and a coro-hooked jam off the top of Cachao's head, I choose not to quibble. (Grade - A-)