by Brice Boorman
Ermelinda Cuellar has released a world music project in cohesion with Under a Lavender Sky. This is an album where Afro-Peruvian rhythm, jazz harmony, and Latin American folklore feel like parts of the same living ecosystem. Cuellar lets these styles evolve in a shared space. The result is a vibrant, rhythm-driven album that speaks to world-music fans seeking emotional depth of Latin world grooves, smart arrangements, and organic cultural interplay.
Cuellar’s voice is warm, resonant, and technically grounded. This is the heart of the record. The project succeeds because it’s a balance of a vocalist-forward album, with Horace Alexander Young’s deft arranging and a 12-piece ensemble capable of shifting between coastal Peru, contemporary jazz, and folkloric color. This makes the album a collective celebration. Cajón, congas, bass, piano, accordion, cello, flute, brass, every timbre participates in the album’s storytelling. The bicultural heritage is expressed through rhythmic environments rather than linguistic explanation. Across ten tracks, Cuellar builds a narrative of migration, ancestry, and the rhythmic DNA shared by North and South American traditions.
“Poinciana” opens the album by reimagining the jazz classic through Afro-Peruvian rhythmic logic. Cajón and hand percussion establish a lando-infused pulse while Cuellar sings melodies of wordless lines and a stirring version of the well-known melody. Peruvian-anchored and atmospheric, she settles into the tune, her phrasing locks into the rhythmic pocket.
“Morning” takes Clare Fischer’s harmonically rich composition and plants it directly into Afro-Latin soil. The ensemble creates an interactive layer of buoyant rhythmic patterns, providing a lively rhythmic bed for Fischer’s signature harmonic motion. The ensemble performance is vibrant and conversational. Cuellar navigates the melody with ease before leaning into articulated scat exchanges.
“Agua de Beber (Water to Drink)” is a lovely bossa cover. Cuellar and the band craft a triple-hybrid rhythm through the arrangement of samba drive, festejo undercurrent, and jazz articulation. The bilingual lyric delivery adds another dimension, with Cuellar switching between languages as fluidly as she shifts between rhythmic feels. “Midnight Sun” brings the album into the realm of jazz orchestration with a world-music shimmer. Muted horns create a dusky, glowing harmonic palette that cradles Cuellar’s warm, unhurried phrasing.
“Song for My Father” injects high-energy Afro-Latin jazz into Horace Silver’s classic. The tune’s well-known bass/piano riff is given a Peruvian/Latin bounce that creates instant momentum. Cuellar and the horn section engage in impressive call-and-response, giving the performance a lively, playful character. Greg Petito’s guitar solo is a highlight, melding bebop lines with Latin rhythmic articulation, followed by Cuellar’s fluid scat chorus. The soulful trombone solo from Andre Hayward pushes the groove into a propulsive, modern Latin swing.
“María Lando” shows the ensemble’s ability to bring a creative sound to the Afro-Peruvian repertoire. The landó rhythm pulses subtly beneath, gradually intensifying until Cuellar’s final sustained notes feel like a call to the ancestors. “Tú, Mi Delirio” moves with romance from the Cuban bolero tradition, though energized by a modern Latin jazz engine. Cuellar’s vocal shape is smooth and expressive. “Sol de Medianoche,” the Spanish adaptation of “Midnight Sun,” is a brilliant closer. Cuellar shifts linguistic gears with ease. It’s a full-circle moment with the jazz standard being re-voiced through heritage.
Under a Lavender Sky stands out with its fusion of integrated musical landscapes where Afro-Peruvian rhythms, jazz harmony, and Latin American storytelling coexist organically. The record is rich with rhythms, arrangements, and phrasing. It’s emotionally resonant and beautifully performed. Cuellar inhabits the music fully, and the sky she paints is indeed lavender: the space between day and night, between cultures, where borders blur and music thrives.
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