| World Jazz |
There’s a moment,about a minute into Cortadito, when the percussion locks in tight, the horns burst open like a flare of color, and the guitar, clean and poised, slips forward with quiet authority. That’s José Guzmán Borrero in full view: calm at the center of the storm, a composer who doesn’t suppress chaos but gives it purpose.
Cortadito, the new album from The Afro-Caribbean Jazz Collective, isn’t simply a record, it’s an argument for how rhythm, harmony, and geography can think together. Guzmán Borrero, born in Ponce, Puerto Rico and long based in the American Midwest, has built a sound both anchored in Caribbean pulse and fluent in contemporary jazz vocabulary. But rather than blending genres, Cortadito invents its own hybrid logic, where the heartbeat of San Juan and the harmonic depth of Chicago coexist as equals.
The album opens with a confidence that feels architectural. Rhythm here is not a layer, it’s the foundation. The grooves unfold like vaulted structures: overlapping, generous, yet precisely measured. Each composition balances fire and reflection, jubilation and restraint. “I don’t think in terms of genre,” Guzmán Borrero has said. “Each piece is a space where musicians can inhabit an idea, not just a rhythm.” That ethos defines Cortadito, music that reflects as it advances.
The writing for ensemble is masterful. Horns rise and fall like a tideat times invoking the power of a big band, then dissolving into moments of chamber-like intimacy. Percussion never just marks time; it provokes, converses, disrupts. And at the center, Guzmán Borrero’s guitar is both narrator and conscience, guiding the group through intricate rhythmic architecture with a calm, luminous tone. The result is music that values density without indulgence, complexity without clutter.
Throughout Cortadito, one senses a collective intelligence at work, a group listening as deeply as it plays. The Afro-Caribbean Jazz Collective treats the rhythmic tradition not as a formula but as a living philosophy. The Afro-Cuban and Puerto Rican grooves are not decorations but propulsion systems, pushing melody and harmony forward. You might catch flashes of the discipline of Miguel Zenón or the lyricism of Danilo Pérez, but the music here is resolutely its own—virtuosity in service of connection.
Rather than chasing spectacle, Cortadito builds its power through patience. Tracks breathe and evolve; tension grows through texture and dynamics more than tempo. One moment recalls the earthy vigor of early Eddie Palmieri, the next drifts toward impressionistic nuance, yet the story never breaks. Guzmán Borrero and his ensemble construct a continuous narrative, one that invites the listener to inhabit rhythm as space, melody as conversation.
What lingers when Cortadito fades is more than admiration, it’s trust. Trust in a composer who speaks softly but clearly, in a collective that knows how to balance thought and motion.
Guzmán Borrero has crafted a record that reminds us that rhythm, in the right hands, is not just movement, it’s meaning and what he is talking about is not a simple celebration. It is a communion.
Thierry De Clemensat
Member at Jazz Journalists Association
USA correspondent for Paris-Move and ABS magazine
Editor in chief – Bayou Blue Radio, Bayou Blue News
PARIS-MOVE, November 1st 2025
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Musicians :
Eric Devey : Trompette
Brian Stark : Saxophone ténor
Ben Weisiger : Trombone
Ian Stewart : Basse
José Guzmán : Guitare
Stephan Busath : Congas
Sebastian Nasser : Timbales
Brian Shank : Percussions
Track Listing:
Hollande ‘Pa’ Uste
A Sunday Kind of Day
El REloj
El Vilcan
Terminal 5
Witches Dance
Orchards Downs