It's astonishing how few people in the UK are aware of the Cuban New York-based drummer-composerarranger-educator Dafnis Prieto. In America, where he's recently been awarded a MacArthur Fellowship “Genius Award” in addition to umpteen new works commissions and grants from the likes of Jazz at Lincoln Center, he gets rave reviews from all sides. He's been called “easily the most impressive young drummer to come on the jazz scene during the past decade.” One of his former bosses (who also include Henry Threadgill and Steve Coleman), the legendary Eddie Palmieri says: “he is extraordinary, a rhythmic stimulus.” Prieto is constantly coming up with new group concepts. Following amazing albums with his Absolute Quintet and his Sextet's Taking the Soul For a Walk comes this Si O Si Quartet, while currently he's working on The Proverb Trio with Kokayi on vocals and Jason Lindner on keyboards.

This quartet live album at Jazz Standard has been beautifully recorded (and mixed) and shows Prieto at his most inventive. He composed and arranged all the intrinsically complex themes and at times gives the impression that the scores are adapted from the drum parts. Prieto seemingly manages to play along with or anticipate whatever the other three are doing all at the same time as contributing his own highly convoluted, complicated percussion lines. At times, his phrasing – highly precise, but constantly creative – appears to accomplish the impossible, followed by yet another equally amazing cluster of beats: virtousity, versatility and an almost unequalled ability to wed Afro-Cuban rhythms with modern jazz harmonies. But this is far from being a one-man band. Peter Apfelbaum's tenor playing has a full-on tone and an astute understanding of post-bop and free jazz. Valera, another brilliant Cuban pianist, delivers solos full of emotion and invaluable section work and both make intelligent use of the melodica, while Flores – on acoustic and electric bass – is never over-busy and works wonderfully well with the other three. Prieto is indeed a master musician.