Dawn

This is certainly for fans of Buika and anyone else who loves a progressive flamenco. Here, sultry-voiced Mexican singer Magos Herrera and young Spanish guitarist/producer Javier Limon (who has also worked with Buika) take flamenco into jazz and Latin jazz territory. The opener, “Afro Blue,” features both excellent singing and scatting from Herrara as Limon simultaneously manages the song’s melody and rhythm on his guitar. “Skylark” gets tender handling with Limon moving in and around Herrera’s more direct reading of the melody. The singer holds back for a smoldering version of “Nature Boy” and for much of the rest of this set, letting passion emerge through the tension she builds. The duo leave flamenco behind with the moody and swirling “Wild Is the Wind” and wander furthest on “Tierra Movida.” The two also superimpose flamenco over Jobim’s “O Que Tinha de Ser” and seem to find a lost Joni Mitchell tune in Caetano Veloso’s “Oracao ao Tempo.” The imaginative musicality doesn’t end there, offering the singer/songwriter-ish “Dawn” and the languorous and dramatic “My Love for You,” with violin adding gypsy flair.