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It's a cold, rainy Saturday night in Spanish Harlem in November 2017, but inside Camaradas El Barrio the scene is a fuego! The wine is flowing, the mofongo is tasting good and Fernando García's sextet is percolating on the bandstand with a fiery abandon that is palpable to the crowd. As they launch into a wild, whirlwind descarga take on the Duke Ellington-Juan Tizol classic "Caravan," García fuels the clave with his left foot on the cowbell while traversing the kit with polyrhythmic aplomb as pianist Gabriel Chakarji lays down an entrancing montuno. A consummate conductor from the behind kit, García nimbly shifts insinuating rhythms from song to song -- chachalokafún to bembé to cuembé to sicá to timba -- while never letting the groove slip. Slovenian-born saxophonist Jan Kus adds husky-toned tenor over the top as guitarist Gabriel Vicéns dazzles with single note flurries while conguero/barrilero Victor Pablo stokes the flames. It doesn't get much hotter than this. Like a master rhythmatist, García juggles all the intricate polyrhythms, odd meters and quick tempo shifts with assuredness and authority. The Puerto Rico native and New York City resident is fast emerging as a talent deserving of wider recognition for both his remarkable adeptness on the kit and his considerable skills as a composer-arranger. On Guasábara Puerto Rico, García organically blends folkloric bomba rhythms and jazz in a myriad of satisfying ways. Backed by his core group of Kus, Vicéns, Chakarji, Pablo and bassist Dan Martínez, the drummer and his simpatico crew of youngbloods push the envelope on García's third album as a leader and debut for ZOHO Music. Special guest Miguel Zenón, the acclaimed saxophonist-composer-bandleader and native of San Juan, elevates the proceedings on the dramatic and turbulent title track. "Miguel is one of my big heroes," says García. "I've been following his music since 2006 and I've gotten a lot of influences from him."

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