Nuyorican Soul is the definitive collaborative project of 'Masters At Work' (Louie Vega and Kenny 'Dope' Gonzalez). Formed in 1996, the group served as a bridge between the electronic dance music of the 1990s and the live instrumentation of the 1970s Salsoul and Fania eras.
By recruiting legends like Roy Ayers, George Benson, and Tito Puente, Vega and Gonzalez moved house music away from its sample-heavy roots toward a sophisticated, live-ensemble sound. Their 1997 self-titled album is considered a landmark in the acid jazz and nu-soul movements, successfully blending Afro-Cuban rhythms with disco and deep house. Critical consensus views the project as a high-water mark for production, praised for its technical fidelity and cultural reverence. It remains a foundational text for the 'broken beat' and 'nu jazz' scenes that followed, influencing artists from Gilles Peterson to Kaytranada by proving that dance music could possess the harmonic complexity of jazz and the rhythmic soul of salsa.
Shares hand_played, disco, nu jazz, soul (signature)
Shares nu jazz, percussion, latin pop, disco (signature)
Shares nu jazz, percussion, latin pop, disco (signature)
Shares nu jazz, percussion, latin pop, disco (signature)
Shares nu jazz, disco, soul, house (signature)
Shares percussion, latin pop, disco, nu jazz (signature)
Shares disco, hand_played, nu jazz, soul (subgenre)
Cassette uses generative AI to enrich its catalog. How we use AI →