Virtuoso

It's not that Chucho Valdés' Virtuoso fails to dazzle -- this is the same swift-fingered Valdés who plunked and pounded so appealingly alongside Buena Vista Social Club, after all -- but it does take a couple of weird turns. The first several tracks land on unsuspecting ears like lullabies, the trouble there being not that they're overly gentle or soporific but that they lack a signature Cuban sound; skill goes on display at the expense of flavor. Later, when Valdés does let it rip alongside a more traditional, Buena Vista-style band, he is occasionally drowned out by the wailings of an overly emphasized jazz vocalist. But between these frustrations a cluster of rum-soaked winners spike through. Tuning way into "Sentimental" is like hitching a tear-stained ride to old Havana, and the weather-beaten charm of "El Manisero" couldn't be more distinctively, winningly Chucho-derived. by Tammy La Gorce