Harold López-Nussa

On NUEVA TIMBA, the new Blue Note album from the Cuban-born pianist Harold López-Nussa, the jazz vanguard meets multiple eras of Cuba’s musical history with results that are at once accessible, life-affirming and strikingly accomplished. Featuring a core of unmatched talent — Harold’s brother, Ruy Adrian López-Nussa, on drums; Luques Curtis on bass; and the harmonica virtuoso Grégoire Maret — it feels like a definitive vision for the future of Latin jazz.

On “Bonito y Sabroso,” López-Nussa condenses the power of Benny Moré’s big band into a small-group arrangement, then adds modern, psychedelic hues through electronics and the beat-making of José Angel Blanco, a.k.a. El Negro WADPRO. Other highlights include “Niña Con Violin,” written by López-Nussa’s uncle, the acclaimed pianist Ernán López-Nussa, with gorgeous melodic bass work from Curtis. An arrangement of Ernesto Lecuona’s “Gitanerias” offers a master class in accenting classical virtuosity with a contemporary rhythmic thrust. The López-Nussa original “Cerca y Lejos” boasts welcome shades of early fusion-era Chick Corea.

For all its overwhelming mastery, however, this album is foremost a journey — a deeply personal narrative rooted in profound, often painful life changes.

NUEVA TIMBA tells the very real story of a man displaced: a young father finding his way in a new country while missing his homeland with heartrending intensity; all the while, he’s nursing other emotional wounds including the passing of his mother, and the compounding torment brings him to a state of despair. Slowly but surely, sunshine begins to poke through the clouds, and he discovers a path forward. Something like happiness returns to the horizon. Consider NUEVA TIMBA musical tears of joy.