For those not in the know, born from the curiosity of exploring Latin influences that are fundamental to pop, classical music and Jazz, pianist & master arranger Gino Amato presents Latin Crossroads, his debut release on Ovation Records.

Co-produced by 3x Grammy® Award winner Oscar Hernández, Latin Crossroads features a stunning array of musicians, including Randy Brecker, Will Lee, Joe Locke, and vocalist Janis Siegel.

Experience an extraordinary album that will completely capture your imagination and revitalize your appreciation for American popular music.

1. Blackbird (5:19) (Paul McCartney)
2. The Summer Knows (3:49) (Michel Legrand)
3. On The Street Where You Live (4:30) (Lerner & Lowe)
4. Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered (4:32) (Rodgers & Hart)
5. Shower The People (4:49) (James Taylor)
6. Aranjuez (5:16) (Joaquín Rodrigo)
7. Bad Things (4:09) (Jayce Everett)
8. ’Round Midnight (5:03) (Thelonious Monk)
9. Tonight (3:44) (Bernstein & Sondheim)
10. Romeo and Juliet (5:37) (Tchaikovsky)
11. Green Flower Street (4:02) (Donald Fagen)

This wonderfully vibrant, elegantly sculpted new recording opens on a vibrantly swung rendition of the Beatles’ Blackbird and Michel Legrand’s Latin jazz romp The Summer Knows, and then we get the sweeping Lerner & Lowe composition On The Street Where You Live (from My Fair Lady, and which features vocals from Kevin Osborne), the sheer elegance of the Rogers & Hart track Bewitched, Bothered & Bewildered, with a soulful Shower The People (by James Taylor, featuring vocals from Arnold McCuller) along next.

They are all then followed by the strident Joaquín Rodrigo’s Aranjuez (immortalized by Miles Davis and Gil Evans on Sketches Of Spain) and a sumptuous version of Jayce Everett’s Bad Things, which are in turn backed seamlessly by an uptempo Latin groove that vibrates within Thelonious Monk’s ’Round Midnight, the album rounding out on an incredibly impassioned cover of Bernstein & Sondheim’s Tonight (from West Side Story, and featuring vocals from Margo Rey and the late flutist Dave Valentin), Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet, closing on Donald Fagen’s all-embracing Green Flower Street (from his spectacular Nightfly album).

The wide repertoire of Latin Crossroads reflects Gino Amato’s career. Classically trained, he worked early on with the Puerto Rican salsa band La Sonora Ponce.a and pianist Papo Lucca, studied with Don Sebesky and Jim McNeely, formed the Steely Dan tribute group Royal Scam, and has written for big bands, Latin ensembles, and many popular artists.

Throughout Latin Crossroads, Gino Amato’s recording debut as a leader, he shows that a creative arranger on his level can turn nearly any song, no matter its original source, into infectious and unforgettable Afro-Cuban music.

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