Reviews | Songlines

Reviews

Review of Jazz Batá 2

Jazz Batá 2

Chucho Valdés

Mack Avenue Records

Rating: ★★★★

As a master of Cuban piano, any new release by Chucho Valdés is sure to spark excitement among Latin music...

Reviewed in issue April/2019

Review of Bachata Haiti

Bachata Haiti

Bachata Haiti

iASO Records DIGITAL ONLY

Rating: ★★★★

While Haiti and the Dominican Republic share the same island they are divided – the French colonised Haiti while the...

Reviewed in issue April/2019

Review of Maravilhas Contemporâneas

Maravilhas Contemporâneas

Luiz Melodia

Vinilísssimo VINYL & DIGITAL ONLY

Rating: ★★★

The significance of this reissue lies not in the fame of its creator, who died in 2017, but the interesting...

Reviewed in issue April/2019

Review of If You Can't Stand the Heat

If You Can't Stand the Heat

Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen

Compass Records

Rating: ★★★★

Frank Solivan's satin-smooth, mid-tenor voice soars right off the bat in ‘Crave’, the opening track of If You Can't Stand...

Reviewed in issue April/2019

Review of Lucky Star

Lucky Star

Qué Bárbara

BIK Recording

Rating: ★★★★

Royal Academy-trained, an acclaimed music educator for kids, a flugelhorn player and from England, Barbara Snow should not be as...

Reviewed in issue April/2019

Review of The Treasure Isle Ska Albums Collection

The Treasure Isle Ska Albums Collection

VARIOUS ARTISTS

Doctor Bird

Rating: ★★★★

The international popularity of ska launched Jamaica's music industry in the early 1960s and one of the big players on...

Reviewed in issue April/2019

Review of Royal Traveller

Royal Traveller

Missy Raines

Compass Records

Rating: ★★★★

Primarily known as a multiple award-winning bluegrass bassist, Missy Raines' penchant for pushing musical boundaries has also found her experimenting...

Reviewed in issue April/2019

Review of Nostalgique Porto Rico: Plenas, Guarachas, Boléros et Chansons Jibaras 1940-1960

Nostalgique Porto Rico: Plenas, Guarachas, Boléros et Chansons Jibaras 1940-1960

VARIOUS ARTISTS

Buda Musique

Rating: ★★★★

Long before Ricky Martin and Daddy Yankee seduced the diaspora with their very different hybrid pop rhythms, the island of...

Reviewed in issue April/2019

Review of La Candela del Río

La Candela del Río

Insólito UniVerso

Top of the World

Olindo Records

Rating: ★★★★★

Every decade has its new diaspora, inevitably spawning a new music that speaks to roots and the severing of them....

Reviewed in issue April/2019

Review of Capitalist Blues

Capitalist Blues

Leyla McCalla

Top of the World

Jazz Village

Rating: ★★★★★

A Songlines favourite since her days with Carolina Chocolate Drops, McCalla's solo debut Vari-Colored Songs: A Tribute to Langston Hughes...

Reviewed in issue April/2019

Subscribe from only £7.50

Start your journey and discover the very best music from around the world.

Subscribe

View the Current
Issue

Take a peek inside the latest issue of Songlines magazine.

Find out more