Flamenco music uses a variety of rhythms. The album's nine tunes, including four original Duncan compositions, sample the more popular varieties. With a nod to those of us less well acquainted with the forms, Duncan identifies them on the album cover. It opens with a rumba, the excitingly fast paced "De Camino." Duncan's "Straighten Up" is a tango with a real straight-ahead jazz feel. His "Reality Versus Myth" is an example of the bulerías, with very sweet melody from the horns. The traditional "Romance Anonimo" is a sevillana with emphatic dance rhythms. Tanguillos is represented by the classic "Poinciana," and features some very nice solo work on the piano and sax.
Paco de Lucia's "La Tumbona" smacks of the bull ring, and "Correveidile" features a smoking vocal by Ortega. Ortega, Duncan notes, sings with a Chicago flamenco pop group which he also plays with, Las Guitarras de España. She has the kind of vibrant voice that the music demands. The album closes with Duncan's "Spanish Life," a tune he calls a "swing ballad." A mellow gem, it's one of the highlights of the set.
Altogether there is over an hour's worth of music on the album and every minute of it is worth hearing. One can only hope that flamenco jazz, as interpreted by Greg Duncan, will find its audience, and that said audience will keep expanding.
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