Ceremony [CD]

Ceremony is the fruit of pianist-composer Omar Sosa's first big-band collaboration with arranger-cellist Jaques Morelenbaum, and Hamburg's 18-piece NDR Bigband (North German Radio). The project features Julio Barreto on drums, Childo Tomas on electric bass, and Marcos Ilukán on percussion. Ceremony features Morelenbaum's brilliant arrangements of selections from Omar's CDs "Spirit Of The Roots", "Bembon", and "Afreecanos". Rooted in Afro-Cuban percussive traditions, Sosa's finely textured compositions enable Morelenbaum to summon forth a broad palette of big-band sounds.