Treasures of Heart
Nestor Torres is a young composer and flute player with a '70s-style, synth-heavy, Latin light-jazz sound. The musicianship is slickly professional and the tracks are well recorded. There is some authentic percussion playing heard here and there, so why have the producers opted for programmed trap drums throughout? Torres seems like he really wants to get something across and gets some good licks in. He is obviously a capable flautist with a secure technique and he has interesting ideas. However, the overall impression given on this album is that Torres is either playing to an audience that prefers theirclavésandmontunospredigested or has seriously underestimated how much of the real thing they can take. Listeners who enjoy soft jazz and mainstream Latin pop will eat this up, but fans of the real deal should look elsewhere. WithMarc Antoine,Richard Bona,Kim Waters, andDave Samuels.--Christina Roden