This is the latest album from Laura Fygi, a dutch jazz singer. Long ago she was a member of the girl-group Centerfold, but for years now, she is a very succesfull singer of jazz. She's very popular all over the world, especially in Japan. And now she's made this Latin album. She has called it 'The Latin Touch', and that's a good description for it. As dancers we're used to energetic music and singing, especially in Latin music. This album absolutely provides the energetic music, that part really is very good. But the singing is a bit of a problem. Laura Fygi is a real jazz singer and approches this music in a similar way. So instead of the powerfull and energetic voices we're used to, she kind of pants her way through the songs. If you listen too closely to it, it leaves you gasping for breath yourself. So the music is very much Latin, but the singing is jazz.

As I said, the music is very good, there is a wonderful orchestra. But her voice really misses the Latin passion that is needed for this kind of music. But if this is her style, what's the problem? Well, it's so different, apart from the gasping for breath issue. She sings a lot of Latin classics, that not even resemble the original versions. She also chose different tempo's for some very wellknown songs. Like 'Quizas, Quizas, Quizas' that was performed in a legendary way by Nat King Cole as a Rumba, on this album is a Cha cha cha. You cannot get away with that unless you do it very well.

The album is very danceable. Nr 1 'Como Fué' and nr 8 'Dimelo' are very good Samba's. Nr 3 'Quizas, Quizas, Quizas' is a Cha cha cha, but far from the quality the orignal versions have. Nr 5 'Piel Canela' also is a Cha cha cha, it has some nice instrumental effects, but is a bit slow. Nr 10 'Solamente Una Vez' is a nice Cha cha cha, with a good old-fashioned sound. Nr 7 'Abrázame' en nr 11 'Historia De Un Amor' are good and beautiful Rumba's.

A nice try for making Latin music, most songs are very danceable. But we hope her next album will be a different style, because her voice really lacks the Latin power and energy that are needed to perform this kind of music. In the table below you can find all danceable tracks. The tempo's are measured with BeatCounter.