The incredible journey of Alex Acuña has seen the renowned drummer-percussionist travel from his small rural hometown in Peru to being a first-call session drummer in the country’s capital city, Lima, then touring the United States with mambo king Pérez Prado, gigging in Las Vegas with Elvis Presley and ultimately touring internationally with Weather Report, the premiere fusion band of the mid-1970s.

An in-demand Los Angeles session musician for decades, he has appeared on nearly 900 studio records and movie soundtracks while also releasing half a dozen albums under his own name.

His latest as a leader, the dynamic Gifts, reunites him with his musical cohorts from The Unknowns — Venezuelan keyboardist Otmaro Ruiz, Peruvian guitarist Ramón Stagnaro and New York City-born, Puerto-Rican-bred bassist John Peña — that band that Acuña’s led on 1990’s Thinking of You and 2005’s No Accent.

Joined by Peruvian tenor sax powerhouse Lorenzo Ferrero, this gifted and versatile crew runs the stylistic gamut from funk to fusion, soul-jazz, ambient, Latin and Brazilian flavored jazz on Gifts. “These guys can play more than one style,” Acuña said. “And I like to play with musicians that I don’t have to tell them what to play. It’s fun to play with them. They understand my musical lingo.”

1. In Town (5:22)
2. Postlude (5:23)
3. Mercy Mercy (3:45)
4. Amandote (5:24)
5. Chuncho (5:23)
6. Divina (5:06)
7. One Finger Snap (6:44)
8. Regalo (4:25)
9. Melancia (4:40)
10. Aletin Aletun (4:27)

This beautifully orchestrated, heartfelt and wholly impassioned new album opens on the bountiful In Town and the lushly permeating, Weather Reportesque Postlude and then some funky guitar (almost, at one gentle bar or two, akin to a little Hendrix) leads us into a faithful reading of Joe Zawinul’s soul-jazz anthem Mercy Mercy, the beautiful balladry within Amandote is next, before the tempo rises once more for the upbeat, warmly exhilarating, Latin-flavored Chuncho.

Along next is one of my own personal favorites here, the stunningly ornate, melodic gossamer within the aching Divina and that gives way to the layered, all-hands-on deck musical soiree, complete with an entrancing 12/8 take on Herbie Hancock’s One Finger Snap, the album rounding out on the, at times, almost ethereal jazz of Regalo, the flourishing hipsway of the Brazilian-flavored Melancia, eventually coming to a close on the soaring musicianship within the decadent, Afro-Cuban groover Aletin Aletun.

While Acuña’s penchant for playing melodically on the kit permeates each of the 10 stellar tracks on Gifts, it is hardly a drummer’s showcase in a traditional sense. Many drummers can tend to assertively showcase their rhythmic mastery, but Acuña says, “that’s not what my music is about. The music is my star. And that’s why I put so many different sounding tunes on this album, because it all reflects how I feel about music.”

Regarding the album title, Acuña said: “I call it Gifts because, first of all, God gave me the gift of music. And then each tune was a gift from some composer friend of mine.”

To be blessed with such immense talent was truly a gift. And now Acuña is passing on that gift to his many listeners with this heartfelt offering.

Official Purchase Link

Alex Acuña @ Bandcamp