McGrath is a saxophonist who grew up in Puerto Rico, and although he is now in America he has kept very close to the musical traditions he grew up with. For some years he has been involved with Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Centre in Chicago, and when in 2017 they decided to pay homage to one of Puerto Rico’s most renowned Nova Trova singer-songwriters, Antonio Caban Vale (known as El Topo) they commissioned him to arrange and perform some of his works with his sextet. Four of the pieces from this album come from that work, while the other four were developed during lockdown when he had a list of musicians he wanted to work with and kept sending ideas out to others who also had time on their hands. A menjunje is an improvised cure all, and he felt the name was right for this project.
What makes this stand out is the percussion which swings the music in an Afro Cuban style which is infectious and immediately inviting. This is music with heart and soul, a real passion that comes strongly through in every note, and one can see why this took just three days to record as there is real intensity as the rhythm section provide a platform, Roy bounces melodic ideas with Constantine Alexander (trumpet) and Eduardo Zayas (piano), but in many ways it is the percussionists who steal the show, taking this music into a quite distinct territories which are quite removed from standard jazz (whatever that is). There is a vibrant passion within this which really makes it stand out and set the pulse racing as the heart reacts to what it is being delivered – this is not something where the listener can just sit still, but has to be a participant in what is a stirring piece of work.
Rating: 8/10
