Michel Camilo Live at the Blue Note (2-CD)

Personnel: Michel Camilo (piano); Charles Flores (bass); Horacio "El Negro" Hernandez (drums).

Recorded live at The Blue Note, New York, New York in March 2003. Includes liner notes by John C. Bruening.

LIVE AT THE BLUE NOTE won the 2004 Grammy Award for Best Latin Jazz Album.

This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.

Personnel: Michel Camilo (piano); Charles Flores (bass); Horacio "El Negro" Hernandez (drums).

Recorded live at The Blue Note, New York, New York in March 2003. Includes liner notes by John C. Bruening.

LIVE AT THE BLUE NOTE won the 2004 Grammy Award for Best Latin Jazz Album.

Fans of piano superman Michel Camilo had to wait a long time for this record, the first live album in his long career. The recording represents a series of firsts: in addition to premiering Camilo's live performance skills, it is his first documented work with the dynamic rhythm section of bassist Charles Flores and drummer Horacio "El Negro" Hernandez. It also features brand new compositions and radical re-working of old ones.

Captured during a weeklong tenure at the Blue Note in 2003, Camilo, Flores, and Hernandez display a stunning rapport reminiscent of the interplay between Bill Evans, Scott LeFaro, and Paul Motian on SUNDAY AT THE VILLAGE VANGUARD. Much of the music is heavily Latin-flavored, as on the driving groove of "On the Other Hand," or the mix-match rhythms of "Dichotomy." A tongue-in-cheek rendition of "Tequila" keeps this superior artistry from getting too high-minded, reminding listeners that pleasure, joy, and human communication are at the root of Camilo's music.