San Francisco has one of the most diverse and creative music scenes anywhere, and Bay Area percussionist Pete Escovedo tours the city's musical neighborhoods and mixes it up with his brand of Latin jazz on E Music. There's the funk of trumpeter Ray Vega's smoking "Miles Away"; the unmistakable smooth-jazz sound of guitarist Ray Obiedo on his "La Samba"; and San Francisco favorite son George Duke's look at "Setembro," a tune made immensely popular by Quincy Jones and Take Six. Escovedo even takes a turn at gospel singing on "Praise and Worship." The disc opens with a hot showcase for the band featured throughout E Music, continues with well-sequenced, entertaining Latin jazz, and closes with a smoking drum piece. Showing the same broadly attractive qualities of Escovedo's many commercial successes, E Music also burns with a hotter jazz passion, much to the CD's benefit. --Mark Ruffin [amazon]
