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Wayne Wallace Latin Jazz Quintet - ¡Bien Bien! - Patois Records
For Latin jazz newcomers, Patois has been kind enough to indicate on the song titles the genre of Latin jazz being covered.

AUDIOPHILE AUDITION
Published on October 12, 2009
— Jeff Krow

San Jose Jazz Festival: Wayne Wallace
From "The Jazz Observer" By Forrest Dylan Bryant ⋅ August 8, 2009

As the light on Post Street slowly started to dim, a quick glance at the San Jose Jazz Festival’s Latin Stage would have revealed a few of the same faces from John Calloway’s set earlier in the day. But the similarities between that band and Wayne Wallace’s Latin Jazz Quintet pretty much stop there. Bringing a heavy clave beat and a funky attitude, Wallace’s band made it clear from the first note that they were here to get down. NOW.

Wallace’s quintet is like an elite commando unit: lean, mean and packing some serious heat. Drummer Paul Van Wageningen, percussionist Michael Spiro and bassist Dave Belove locked together in an impenetrable wall of rhythm, with a bass thump loud enough to be felt in the granite and steel columns of the surrounding buildings. Wallace surfed over all this with a pan-Caribbean fluidity — part Cuba and part New Orleans, speaking of both the music’s African roots and its 21st century urban reality.
When the band suddenly shifted from dance grooves to the introduction of “A Love Supreme,” then segued through a low, swamp-creep version of “So What” and into “Softly as in a Morning Sunrise,” the whole thing seemed perfectly natural. And when somewhere in the middle of it all, unnanounced guest Steve Turre suddenly appeared on stage and began to play, nobody batted an eyelash. Bay Area audiences know to expect something special when Wayne Wallace is on stage.

Turre and Wallace took a gorgeous plunger-mute duet on “In a Sentimental Mood” that hushed the large crowd, then Doug Beavers showed up, trombone in hand, and two became three for an all-star jam session that would have raised the roof, had there been one.

Later, Wallace mentioned that a version of the Latin Jazz Quintet “on steroids” is scheduled to appear at the Monterey Jazz Festival next month. Mark your calendars now folks, and hold on to your hats.