You'd hardly expect New York guitarist Marc Ribot--who's played with lots of ironists and cynics--to do such a spectacular, hearty job of paying homage to Cuban bandleader Arsenio Rodriguez. This CD, though, reaches far and wide, to both straightahead Cuban jazz fans and lovers of more visceral, gritty music. Ribot plays scouring guitar, getting great organ cushions from John Medeski and Roy Coleman. But it's E.J. Rodriguez's deep, traditional Cuban percussion that fattens this CD for its Best of 1998 status. --Andrew Bartlett