Cuban pianist and composer Harold Lopez-Nussa has seen his star rise at dizzying, swinging speed since his feature on Gilles Peterson's Havana Cultura compilation back in 2016. Previously signed to Mack Avenue, for whom he crafted a blend of Afro-Cuban rhythms and modern jazz with his quartet, bringing in vocalist Cimafunk and unlikely adds such as French accordionist Vincent Peirani, Lopez-Nussa now brings his magic to Blue Note for his tenth studio album, which finds Michael ‘Snarky Puppy’ League on production duties.

All the winning elements are here: songo, reggaeton and indeed, timba, the funky hard-driving salsa guaranteed to get dancers moving, its fierce polyrhythms ably deployed by conguero Machito Crespo and Lopez-Nussa's whiz-kid twin brother Ruy Adrian on kit drums.

Harold is on a mission to revitalise the Latin jazz form. While these 10 dynamic originals zing with his trademark bright keywork, there's also a depth and pathos here that arguably reflects both his decision to relocate from Cuba to France and to include the leftfield chromatic harmonica licks of Grégoire Maret. There are new patterns, too, on bata drums and clavé, the heartbeat of Cuban music, and a precedent-setting foray into electric instruments and synthesizers that finds its metier in ‘Funky’ - like ‘Mal du Pays’, an album highlight.

The result is López-Nussa's most expansive and ambitious work to date, a provocative, lavishly colourful song cycle that amounts to a top-to-bottom modernisation of Latin jazz. Cuba provides the anchoring point of origin; from there he and his band volley ideas in a spirit of cosmopolitan modernity that transcends regions and genres and eras. Timba… also marks the first time López-Nussa has recorded using electric instruments, and indeed there's a creative fearlessness abut the whole record. Fabulous stuff.