Panamanian multi-Grammy winner Rubén Blades is a restless polymath: an actor, singer, composer and poet who made his name on New York's latin jazz scene in the 1970s and 80s. A thinker and innovator who laced salsa with South American nueva canción and Cuban nueva trova, adding depth and light, and a lawyer who served as Minister of Tourism in Panama, where he's an icon. The latter appointment stalled the recording of this brave and assured cross-genre affair, the idea for which Blades and long time collaborator Carlos Franzetti cooked up a decade ago. It's been worth the wait. While the marriage of salsa, with its precise clavéfied beat, and tango – all staccato curves and bandoneon-led meanderings – takes some getting used to, Blades helps us out by cherry-picking some of his more melodic compositions. Now ‘Pedro Navaja’, his biggest hit, comes fresh from the barrios of Buenos Aires and Franzetti's arrangements highlight the emotion and drama in Blades' storytelling. ‘Adan Garcia’, a song about a poor man's desperate attempts to feed his family, finds extra pathos. Blades' phrasing is spare, perfectly placed and often heart-rending.