Carnaval is a rich and spicy dish, sporting all of the piquant passion and sense of humor of the Latin character. Trio Mundo, AKA Manolo Badrena, Andy McKee, and Dave Stryker, creates a simple recipe for swaying samba. Stryker, better known for his guitar—organ trio work, shows off the Spanish tattoo drawn on his soul. He manifests it in his mix of electric over acoustic guitars, affording a deep and rich harmonic well over which Badrena may vocalize his Latin spirit. Multi-instrumentalist Steve Slagle, who adds whimsy and myth to the mix joins, the trio on several tracks.

In the course of eleven original compositions, Trio Mundo sail over the productive terrain of Latin music, spinning off at will airy ballads and pungent salsa. This recording will appeal to any Latin jazz (or music, for that matter) fan and offers considerable crossover appeal.