Harold Lopez-Nussa NUEVA TIMBA
- Contemporary Jazz |
- Jazz |
- Latin Jazz |
- Live
Release Date: September 5, 2025
Label: Blue Note
Harold López-Nussa’s Nueva Timba is a sweeping new album that blends Cuban tradition, personal resilience, and forward-looking Latin jazz with dazzling originality.
With his latest release, Nueva Timba, Cuban-born pianist Harold López-Nussa delivers an album that bridges the past and future of Latin jazz with rare vitality. Backed by his brother Ruy Adrian López-Nussa on drums, bassist Luques Curtis, and harmonica master Grégoire Maret, he crafts a set that feels both steeped in tradition and driven by bold innovation.
The record breathes new life into classics, reimagining Benny Moré’s “Bonito y Sabroso” with psychedelic textures and modern beat-making, showcasing dazzling piano work on Ernesto Lecuona’s “Gitanerias,” and honoring family legacy through a delicate version of “Niña Con Violin,” composed by his uncle Ernán López-Nussa. These reinterpretations flow seamlessly with the album’s original vision, which was captured live at Paris’ Le Duc des Lombards and later refined in the studio.
Yet behind the virtuosity lies a deeply personal story. Nueva Timba reflects López-Nussa’s move from Cuba to France, the ache of distance from home, the grief of losing his mother, and the struggles of building a life for his young family in a new country. The music charts his path through sorrow into resilience, where despair gives way to hope and a sense of joy begins to return.
What emerges is not only a dazzling display of musicianship but also an emotional narrative rendered in sound. Nueva Timba resonates as both a love letter to Cuban music and a testament to López-Nussa’s perseverance, carrying the listener through loss, longing, and ultimately renewal.