This came out in 2000 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
Like any trend, there are pros and cons to North America’s fascination with all things Latino. Frank Emilio is one for the plus column.
This blind, gnomish Cuban piano legend has been plying his trade for 50 years (most recently behind Canuck woodwind player Jane Bunnett). On the solo CD Ancestral Reflections, he puts that half-century of experience to work, offering up nine sizzling, hip-swivelling slices of rumba, mambo, conga and Afro-Cuban jazz with the aid of a crack Havana band so seductively smooth you’ll be grooving to the guiro solo. But the real star in this heavenly constellation is Emilio, who playfully saunters and swings with the blocky chording and punctuation of a Cuban George Shearing. Do yourself a favour: Put down that Enrique Iglesias CD and treat yourself to a real Latin swinger.
