Victoria Cardona - Que Paso (2025)

Singing as well as playing guitars, drums, piano and keyboards, Victoria Cardona leads a sizzling Latin-based band through a collection of fresh originals and hip covers. Among the rotating stars on this session are Jimmy Haslip/b, Franciso Torres/tb and the Latin John Coltrane, Justo Almario, who adds rich flute to the sauntering “Que Paso En La Habena” and his sax soaring around the peppy horns on the street fest of “George From Heaven”. Cardona herself is an enthusiastic force of nature, hitting the steel drums for a Caribbean inflected “Rhodes Royale” and simmering on theorgan for a reggae’d “Tuesday Rain”. She’s pretty and clear on voice on the folkish “Slow Burn” while doing a table dance with Almario’s tenor on “El Carrtero”. Who let her off her chain?~ By George W. Harris