Juan Pastor’s Chinchano, Memorias. Calligram Records, 2025

Juan Pastor's Chinchano, Memorias Calligram Records, 2025 By Jeff Cebulski

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2 Juan Pastor, drums and cajón

Stu Mindeman, piano

Matt Ulery, bass

Dustin Laurenzi, tenor sax

Gian Luiggi Cortez Mejía, congas, cajon, bell, cajita

Jose “Pepe” Mantero, castanets (1)

Many Latin or Caribbean jazz albums are identified and performed with Afro-Cuban rhythms and tropes. One exception is represented by Chicago’s drummer and percussionist Juan Pastor, whose ensemble Chinchano has presented music based on Afro-Peruvian rhythms for over a decade.

Pastor, now the Coordinator of the Jazz Program at North Central College, has centered his career on cross-cultural collaborations, featured on albums like Juan Pastor Chichano (2014), El Regreso (2019, with guest saxophonist Miguel Zenon), and Cachito (2023). His latest album, Memorias, partly sponsored by DCASE, fuses his native rhythms with contemporary jazz to communicate songs that carry personal themes. The percussive thrust of several pieces, an expected characteristic, push the proceedings along with bright animation.

On Memorias Pastor is joined by longtime musical partner, pianist Stu Mindeman, whose own Latin proclivity has been documented, and two other Chicago-based artists who contributed to the string-anointed Cachito: bassist Matt Ulery and tenor saxophonist Dustin Laurenzi. The ensemble’s rapport supports the up-tempo music and makes the interested listener crave for more than the 37 minutes recorded.

The album cover is adorned by a picture of Pastor’s grandmother Celinda, and the first song is named after her. A jaunty vals criollo, Pastor’s cajón and Laurenzi’s tenor establish the melodic/rhythmic core before Mindeman provides a swinging solo. Mindeman’s “Entre el Humo” conjoins the pianist with Laurenzi and Ulery in a shifting display of rhythms that culminates in a driving percussive performance led by Pastor and Gian Luiggi Cortez Mejía. The title cut is a softly-rendered 6/8 Afro-Peruvian ballad, with deep notes from Laurenzi and lyrical counterpoint from Mindeman. Ulery’s “Human Touch”, inspired by his own Peruvian experience, impresses with its complex mix of tandem sax/piano work that follows the bassist’s lead that weaves in and out of rhythmic textures. The festejo “Qué Frío” features Ulery and more percussive complexity that makes the bassist’s second solo even more impressive. Again, Laurenzi and Mindeman combine forces in a display of melodic joy.

While Juan Pastor’s cajon rhythms dominate his albums, none is quite like the others, and Memorias, another of Vijay Tellis-Nayak’s stellar recordings (with engineering by Pastor), serves as an example of a jazz-central, cross-cultured effort that should build more of a sturdy, cross-cultural audience.

For more info, go to calligramrecords.com

About Jeff Cebulski

Jeff Cebulski, who lives in Chicago, is a retired English educator (both secondary and collegiate) and longtime jazz aficionado. His career in jazz includes radio programs at two stations in southeast Wisconsin, an online show on Kennesaw State’s (GA) Owl Radio from 2007 until 2015, and review/feature writing for Chicago Jazz Magazine since 2016, including his column "Jazz With Mr. C". He has interviewed many jazz artists, including Joshua Redman, Charles Lloyd, Dave Holland, John Beasley, and Chris Brubeck, as well as several Chicago-based players. Jeff is a member of the Jazz Journalists Association. Contact Jeff at jeff@chicagojazz.com