Sesc Jazz: Susana Baca (Ao Vivo)

As one of three such releases – along with Ray Lema and jazz flautist Nicole Mitchell’s Black Earth Sway – the grande dame of Afro-Peruvian music is captured live at the Sesc Pompeia jazz festival in 2022. Unsurprisingly, it’s a cultured set that creates a palpable connection with the audience. Backed by a polished band of acoustic and electric guitar, double bass, percussion, piano or violin and backing vocals, the great singer offers 12 self-penned or adapted numbers, with the opening ‘La Herida Oscura’, the Argentinean classic ‘Milonga de Mis Amores’ and the Puerto Rican salsero Tite Curet Alonso’s ‘Sorongo (Congo)’ among others taken from Palabras Urgentes (a Top of the World selection in #172). There are highlights galore: the way, for example, that Juan Carlos Aliaga del Bosque’s violin discretely asserts itself on the opener; the tasteful percussion work on ‘Molino Molero’; the dramatic electric guitar solo on ‘Cambalache’; the singer’s a cappella rendition of ‘Yo Vengo a Ofrecer Mi Corazón’; and the way that singer and band interlock so seamlessly on ‘Maria Lando’. Susana Baca is in fine voice, her band is exemplary and the mix is spot on: an invaluable record, therefore, of a living legend live in concert.