For flamenco purists, Paseo de los Castanos may be sullied by Tomatito's dabblings with non-Spanish music and his involvements with such mainstream celebrities as Elton John, Al Pacino and George Benson. However, while his associations may colour his reputation they have not harmed his artistry. This is ever-present, whether he's applying his virtuosity to traditional flamenco with two sandpaper-voiced singers in a Cadiz cellar on the simmering "Ahi Te Quedas", seamlessly blending flamenco with George Benson's Latin smooth jazz on "Aire de Tango" or using his guitar and flamenco harmonies to add Andalusian flavour to the Turkish lament "Bir Omurluk Misafir". Indeed, in his foreign excursions Tomatito is surely extending the mongrel character of a music that anyway seems to be a hybrid of Asian, Arabic, Jewish and other influences. As Tomatito says, "You see a chord or a sequence of chords and you try to attract them to your territory, to add a flamenco groove". On the evidence of this intoxicating music, whatever he touches belongs to Spain. --Mark Gilbert