Yesun

Roberto Fonseca moves into iconic status with a trio album that cements his legacy as one of the finest pianists on the world stage. Having accrued a back catalogue distinguished by talent and ideas and underscored by a strong grounding in the Afro-Cuban tradition, the Havana-based star gifts us a record – his ninth own-name project – that finds him revelling in a sound that's truly his. Aided by drummer Raul Herrera and longtime double bassist Yandy Martínez, Fonseca still delves deep into the music of his homeland.

The bridges he then builds with jazz, funk, flamenco, bossa nova, spoken word, an array of wheeling analogue keyboards and his own sonorous vocals owe much to the possibilities of the basic pattern that underpins much Afro-Cuban music, as celebrated by closing track ‘Clave’. Guests including French-Lebanese trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf and American saxophone veteran Joe Lovano add clout and shine to arrangements; bolero diva Mercedes Cortés and vocal quartet Gema 4 send us soaring on ‘La Llamada’. Highlights are everywhere: the Cuban street-choir vibe of ‘Vivo’; the rocking ‘Cadenas’, in which hot-shot rapper Danay Suárez spits truths; and ‘Aggua’, a spiritually inspired wig-out dedicated to Fonseca's two orisha ‘mothers’, Yemaya and Oshun, whose intertwined names make up the album's title.