Melanie Jackson and Sal Cracchiolo Fly

Latin Beat Magazine, March, 2003 by Luis Tamargo

(SaMel Music)

The U.S. west coast has always been a fertile territory for outstanding Latin jazz enterprises of a vocal nature, as illustrated by the memorable collaborations between Cal Tjader and Carmen McRae (or between Poncho Sánchez and Dianne Reeves), as well as the wonderful sessions elaborated by Clare Fischer & Salsa Picante. Considering such vital antecedents, one should not be surprised by the high qualitative level of the allied debut of the relentless trumpeter Sal Cracchiolo (of Poncho Sánchez fame) and his lovely spouse--the dynamic songstress Melanie Jackson.

Although most of the repertoire of standards and originals falls within the clave-based Cuban branch of what is known today as Latin jazz, Cracchiolo and Jackson also prove to be equally fluent in the aforesaid genre's Brazilian field, as well as in the straight-ahead idiom. In terms of his enunciation, as in the case of his mentor (the one and only Bobby Shew), Salvatore is able to move and change musical shape, without separating when under pressure, ideally complementing the robust alto range of the other half of Norwalk, California's best kept musical secret. (LT)