“I'm a product of the New York Latin Jazz scene and I wanted something to reflect that hard hitting New York vibe,” says leader/pianist Bill O'Connell “I thought about that when I used to live close to the Hudson River and the biting winter wind coming off it, so I decided to name the [opening] song and the album ‘Wind Off The Hudson’.” O'Connell is a bit of a force of nature himself, as are his collaborators, who can blow up a storm when they're in the mood – as on the title cut, or fold themselves down to make a more spiritually soulful noise on the likes of ‘Gospel 6’. Throughout, O'Connell draws on his experience as director of the Rutgers University Afro-Caribbean Ensemble. The first tracks are O'Connell originals, but later in the set he turns his arranging skills to Tito Puente's Oye Como Va’, Trane's ‘Transition’ and Duke Ellington's ‘C Jam Blues’ before rounding things off with another self-penned tune, ‘Discombobulation’, where some wonderfully urgent and frenetic lines – not least the ones knocked out by O'Connell on his piano – emerge from the sinuous Latin rhythms.