Roman Filiu was born in Cuba, but lived for several years in Madrid where much of the music on this, his second album (the first was with just bass and drums and named after Monk's time ‘Bemsha Swing’) as leader was written and now resides in New York. He started out on piano, but switched to the saxophone because it was easier to be able to “go out and play with friends”. He has quite a history already, having spent eight years with Chucho Valdes and Irakere and four with Isaac Delgado, vocalist with the legendary NG La Banda. Quite recently he worked and recorded with the exuberant tenorman David Murray, and his solos on the latter's Nat King Cole in Spanish album earned excellent reviews. On top of all that, he is highly regarded by saxists Steve Coleman and Yosvany Terry. His strongly visual music is influenced by his keen interest in painting and art generally, and he hopes to score for movies. This is highly contemporary jazz, with Filiu impressive on both saxophones and strongly supported by the outstanding latin pianist David Virelles, who co-arranged most of the material and a superior rhythm section featuring, on alternative tracks, two of today's most gifted and inventive drummers, Dafnis Prieto (on whose label this is) and Marcus Gilmore. Filiu shows much promise.