Dave Samuels, the former Spyro Gyra vibraphonist and marimba player, has redesigned the Caribbean Jazz Project, and the newfangled edition's first recording is a pleasantly appealing affair. Underappreciated fusion guitarist Steve Khan and Nuyorican flutist Dave Valentin have replaced steel drummer Andy Narell and clarinetist/saxophonist Paquito D'Rivera, and the rhythm section has been revamped as a pianoless unit also absent of a drum kit, with bassist John Benitez joined by conguero Richie Flores and Venezuelan-born timbales specialist Robert Vilera.

The reborn band, its front line previewed on Valentin's 1999 Sunshower and Samuels' 1998 Tjaderized, is simultaneously lighter and more energetic, serving up a pan-Caribbean rum punch - spiked with South American and Central American ingredients - that's likely to appeal to a broader base of listeners than the jazzier original incarnation of the band.

"New Horizons," like its predecessors, is characterized by smart arrangements and fertile improvisations. Check out the tumbling marimba figure that sets up a peppy version of Dizzy Gillespie's "A Night in Tunisia," opening up into an earthy percussion battle, and the glowing, intricately designed melody of Khan's "Charanga Si, Si," augmented with Spanish call-and-response vocals and the composer's typically adventurous six-string exploration.

The guitarist's creep-crawling, moody "Safe and Sound," the set's sole blues tune, is another highlight, as is his opening, percolating "Descarga Canelon," which comes off as a sort of theme song for the group, showcasing the lilting rhythms, mellow, lustrous tonality and spirited soloing that define the collective.

"Ivory Coast," the first of four tunes contributed by the mallet man, is an impressionistic musical portrait of the African locale, complete with the sounds of jungle animals, and Samuels similarly evokes tropical locales on "Rain Forest" and the shimmering "Over the Horizon."

He pays tribute to his late father on "Arthur's Dance," a bright, catchy piece that thrives on gently undulating danzon rhythms, nodding to Cal Tjader. The Caribbean Jazz Project, in fact, might be thought of as an updated twist on the bop-meets-Latin outfits led by Tjader and George Shearing four decades ago. It's a distinctive, welcome variation on a familiar approach.
- PHILIP BOOTH