For this 1996 session, arranged and conducted by Carlos Franzetti, D'Rivera envisioned an Afro-Cuban equivalent of Miles Davis's Sketches of Spain. Franzetti's classical-influenced arrangements recall Gil Evans's work with Davis, and D'Rivera paints an orchestral jazz picture of Cuba much as Davis did for Spain. He approaches famous Cuban songs like Ignacio Pieiro's "Echale Salsita" and Ernesto Lecuona's "Como Arrullo de Palmas" from an instrumental jazz perspective: This is jazz with both Afro-Cuban and classical elements but it's jazz first and foremost.
