AllMovie

Filmmaker Fernando Trueba was introduced to Latin jazz in the 1980s, when he was beginning his career as a director, and he has since become a devoted fan of the music. After employing noted jazz artists to score some of his films, Trueba took his love of the music one step further with the documentary Calle 54, in which he gathered together a number of his favorite Latin jazz artists for a series of interviews and performances at the Sony Music recording studios in New York City. The artists include two pioneering Latin jazz stars, percussionist Tito Puente and horn player Paquito D'Rivera, as well as father-and-son piano duo Bebo Valdes and Chucho Valdes, Gato Barbieri and his tenor sax, the New York-based ensemble Jerry Gonzalez and the Fort Apache Band, and veteran pianists Chico O'Farrill and Eliane Elias.