The Table For Five! is arranged and set for a savory feast with Juan Carlos Quintero (guitar), Eddie Resto (bass), Joe Rotondi (piano), Joey DeLeon (percussion), Aaron Serfaty (drums). Columbia-born Juan Carlos Quintero came to the U.S. when just a tyke, and he started playing guitar at age eight. Since 1986, he’s been based in Los Angeles where he’s produced, performed and recorded music while nurturing his signature sound of lilting, atmospheric melodies, blending contemporary jazz with native rhythms.

His last release, in 2020, Caminando was actually a re-release of his critically acclaimed 1997 album, The Way Home. Now, rather than emphasize his own self-penned compositions as that album did so well, Table For Five! imparts his characteristically stylish Latin-esque craftsmanship on a variety of enthralling selections from the likes of Luiz Bonfa  (“The Gentle Rain” and “Manhã De Carnaval”), Armando Peraza (“Mambo Balahu”), Horace Silver (“Song for My Father”), Henry Mancini (“Days of Wine and Roses”), and John Coltrane (“Giant Steps”). A tune like “The Gentle Rain” (Trilha Sonora) is reinvented with a more snappy vibe than was originally portrayed on nylon-strung guitar in the mid-1960s motion picture soundtrack, and one doesn’t really miss the trumpet or saxophone that so defines a classic like “Song for My Father.” Their engaging, tastefully rendered “Days of Wine and Roses” is memorable and emotionally moving. And, of course, Quintero the composer also displays tasty chops on some of his own groovy works, “Table For Five...at the Cumbia Inn” and “Porque Si Quieres.”  

A very relaxing album with a clarion sound quality, the music accentuates good tone, imagination and taste. There’s solid chemistry and cohesion among the ensemble members, and history tells us that Juan Carlos Quintero has years of collaboration with them. Each track creates its own mood, with the very accessible title cut, based on Columbia’s most popular cumbia dance, establishing a breezy melody and hot rhythm that gets one’s toes tapping. Closing with a mellow, romantic, impressionistic rendition of Victor Young’s “Beautiful Love,” we’re left to cherish the profound sensitivity and effervescent Latin style that Juan Carlos Quintero and friends bring to the Table For Five! (Joe Ross, Roots Music Report)