BAND leader, Buena Vista Social Club luminary and Cuban music curator Juan de Marcos Gonzales Cardenas calls his new Afro Cuban All Stars album Step Forward.
It is, he explains, a statement of intent to showcase the cream of the new generation that must rise in the wake of the "old guys", Ibrahim Ferrer, Ruben Gonzales and Compay Segundo. The burgeoning players in his 15-piece band are "the future of Cuban music in the world", he says.
The future has just become the present. Rain-clamped Harrogate may not be sweltering Havana, but the joint was jumping on Thursday night.
It starts quietly, as all storms do, with the magical fingers of pianist David Alfaro Garcia, before de Marcos commands his sharp-suited boys to let rip.
He is a father figure in the manner of a Bobby Robson, nurturing talents while passionate about the old days.
Two hours and more glide by in the joyous sway of old-time son from Havana's Fifties and the hot and sweaty release of timba, the salsa of the 21st century.
Solos seamlessly flow through the songs, be it the trombone of Antonio Leal Rodriguez and Juan Carlos Marin Eloseguy, or the languid saxophone of David Suarez Merlin.
The sweet violin of Luis Lang Morejon is a lovely surprise; singers Tirso Oriol Duarte Lescay and Leucidio Vera Rizo pump up the crowd; but even they are outdone by Rolando Salgado Palacio's bongos. What a belter.
Updated: 11:04 Saturday, July 30, 2005
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