The latest release from Havana-based pianist and composer Harold López-Nussa possesses irrepressible party DNA. From the opener, ‘Habana Sin Sabanas’ (meaning roughly ‘Havana exposed’), through to the disc's closer, ‘Van Van Meets New Orleans’, the band – consisting of the pianist's core quartet of drummer Ruy Adrián López-Nussa, bassist Julio César González and trumpeter Mayquel González, supplemented with a variety of guest performers – rarely pauses for breath as it fearlessly melds jazz with a range of popular styles, not least Songo on that last track and reggaetón on ‘JazzTón’.

Afro-Cuban superstar Cimafunk provides the vocals on Los Van Van's ‘El Buey Cansao’, and French accordionist Vincent Peirani endows the cover of Michel Legrand's ‘The Windmills of Your Mind’ with a shimmying, late-evening charm. There's time for a little reflection on Cuban composer Leo Brouwer's ballad ‘Un dia de Noviembre’, but the album is ultimately most memorable for its more playful and most gloriously ‘up’ moments, such as ‘Lila's Mambo’, dedicated to López-Nussa's youngest daughter, and ‘Timbeando’, previously recorded I for the 2007 solo disc Sobre el Atelier and which here features the liquid magic of López-Nussa's Fender Rhodes playing.