Alto saxophonist Miguel Zenon has made a career out of exploring his Puerto Rican roots, with albums like Alma Adentro: The Puerto Rican Songbook (Marsalis Music, 2011), Tipico (Miel Music, 2017) and Yo Soy La Tradicion (Miel Music, 2018). With Musica De Las Americas he broadens his vision to celebrate the history of the American continents, north and south, as well as the multiplicity of America's Atlantic Ocean islands, to delve into the history of this expanse of lands—before and after the European invasion—with his energetic Latin jazz sound. The recording features Zenon's long standing quartet featuring pianist Luis Perdomo, bassist Hans Glawischnig and drummer Henry Cole, a distinctive, effervescent music bolstered here by several added percussionists, including the quintet Los Pleneros De La Cresta. The themes are the pre-Columbian indigenous people, the post Columbian oppression and exploitation and the rapaciousness of the Europeans, the seafaring cultures of the Caribbean and the concept of "America" not as a country—as in "The United States of America"—but, more historically correctly, America as a continent
