Ricardo Gallo

Last week was Ricardo Gallo's CD release in the U.S. for his debut solo album, Los Cerros Testigos. It's a great Colombian jazz CD by a pianist/composer whose songs bear the mark of his extraordinary intelligence. This is a jazz CD, with challenging tunes that effortlessly incorporate elements of traditional Colombian music. In some ways, it is the yin to (Folklore Urbano's) Baile's yang.

This is especially important to Chonta because it marks the first dual release with Bogota's artist collective, La Distritofonica. Ricardo is an active member of La Distritofonica, and he is also a member of the fantastic Bogota jazz group, Asdrubal.

I'm so happy to be a part of this, and I'll have a review of the album up this weekend.