Samuel Torres' recently released 'Yaoundé,' named after the capital city of Cameroon, was inspired by the composer/percussionist's 2005 trip to Africa with guitarist Richard Bona. The experience got Torres thinking about the African roots of his own native rhythms and unleashed a torrent of creativity that resulted in his sophomore effort. Originally from Bogotá, Colombia and based in New York City, Torres discovered a striking, shared musical ancestry between two continents that he wished to explore on record. There was the currulao from Colombia's pacific coast and the balafon music of Cameroon, for instance, to his ear undeniable sonic cousins. With an ensemble comprised of some of jazz and Latin jazz's brightest talents -- including woodwind artists Anat Cohen and Joel Frahm, trumpeter Michael Rodriguez, pianist Manuel Valera, Grammy award-winning bassist John Benitez, timbalero Ralph Irizarry, drummer Ernesto Simpson, vocalist Sofía Rei Koutsovitis, and tiple (12-string Colombian guitar) player Andrés García -- Torres took his compositions to the next level.
'Yaoundé' reveals his willingness to take risks and build cultural bridges with thirteen tracks that draw from Colombian folk traditions and traces them to African sonorities through a funk/jazz filter. Torres made his debut as a leader in 2006 with the release of 'Skin Tones,' an album that quickly solidified his reputation as a rising star vying for a place in the pantheon of some of the most visionary Latin jazz percussionists of his generation. A former member of Cuban trumpeter Arturo Sandoval's band, Torres' life story was recently featured in a book titled, 'Chicken Soup For The Soul: Thanks Mom,' in which he recounts how being raised by a working, single mom gave him the perseverance to succeed as a musician.
