Jane Bunnett & the Spirits of Havana

Canadian flautist and soprano saxophonist Jane Bunnett is a trained jazz musician, but since before her 1992 album Spirits of Havana, she and her husband, trumpeter Larry Cramer, have been fascinated by island rhythms from Cuba. On this, her fourth Cuban-themed album and her first featuring mostly original compositions, Bunnett has submerged herself in the music to the point where you can't tell where Bunnett's inspiration leaves off and the large pool of Afro Cuban rhythms begins. It's a remarkable melding of sounds that results in a fiery album of percussive joy. It's a meeting of several traditions of the African diaspora - jazz, African sounds filtered through Cuba, gospel and blues - yet it jumps with the energy of first discovery.