Cuban pianist taps roots in Europe

It is ironic that at the beginning of Black History Month, Cuban pianist Elio Villafranca, known for his deep connection to Afro-Cuban culture, would choose to emphasize his nation's European roots for his latest project.

But everyone knows that there are two dominant strains in Cuban culture: the African and the Spanish. Funny thing is, musically, French heritage is just as important in Cuba as Spanish. That was very much apparent in the contradanzas, danzones and other Cuban classical/folk music forms that Villafranca offered Saturday night at the Painted Bride.

Outside the string-heavy grooves of Martinique's biguin, nobody fits Africa and Europe together more seamlessly than Cubans. And Villafranca is right in the middle of this painful but fruitful synergy. He appeared Saturday with the forward-looking Osso String Quartet, and his use of the double-quartet format (with Henry Cole on drums, Jacam Manricks on reeds, and Carlo DeRosa on bass) brought new vision to the French-inspired music of Cuban composers such as Ernesto Lecuona.

The waltz-tempo classical pieces and deep Afro-Cuban Ñáñigo rhythms fit together well mathematically. The challenge was integrating the two while using the latter only as a minor component of the compositions.

Villafranca is an amazing soloist. He can begin with quiet, spacey phrases and build into lightning-fast chromatic runs, but he, at least in a classical setting, impresses with sweet precision rather than machismo.

Playing clarinet, bass clarinet, flute and saxes, the versatile Manricks always had the right tone and thematic orientation for each classical composition; his melodic and harmonic integration with the classical strings was complete.

During an homage to the great Cuban bassist Cachao, DeRosa and Villafranca played long passages with only each other, with DeRosa greatly enjoying the opportunity to provide a lead voice rather than bottom.

Cole, from Puerto Rico, has a singsong drum style that fits well with Villafranca. His solos on "Metamorphosis" - which also starred Bride honcho Lenny Seidman on tabla - cannily extended the 9/4 rhythms, but it was his quiet tapping with his fingers on his set during earlier danzones with the strings that really made his presence felt.