If you listen to Salt of the Earth, the sensational track from saxophonist Tim Ries Sunnyside CD, Stones World, you ll hear a sensuous and thrilling contralto voice that swings and sighs, like no other. That voice belongs to the brilliant and beautiful, Mexican-born, New York-based singer, Magos Herrera. Like Luciana Souza and Claudia Acuna, she is a world-class jazz vocalist in the literal sense of the word: She s fluent in English, Spanish, and Portuguese, and is likewise proficient in deciphering and delivering the syncopated science of jazz, and Afro-Hispanic musical genres. Her gifts are on full display on her Sunnyside debut, Distancia, supported by an exceptional rhythm section featuring guitarist Lionel Loueke, pianist Aaron Goldberg, bassist Ricky Rodriguez, drummer Alex Kautz, with background vocalists Ingrid and Jennifer Beaujean. Buoyed by that stellar lineup, Herrera delivers a delicious, dancing and diverse ten-track potpourri of original songs, and standards by Antonio Carlos Jobim, Milton Nascimento, and Cesar Portillo de la Luz. All this music traveled within me, before being recorded, through different awarenesses of distance, just to remind me that life is movement, its energy that continuously transforms into new ideas, identities and paradigms, Magos writes in the CD liner notes, revealing that all true reencounters can only take place with deep surrender in the form of pure love, acceptance and gratitude. Magos love and thanks come through loud and clear on this disc co-produced by Tim Ries. Her self-penned songs Reencountro Tu Ojos, Staying Closer, Alegria, are pulsed by scintillating vocal percussion, interlocking, Pan-Afro/American rhythmic structures, tinges of Joni Mitchell-style rock timbres, and flamenco-flavored handclaps. Magos reinterprets the works of master composers with equal verve. She updates Caesar Portillo De la Luz s famous bolero Tu, Mi Delirio, with a kind of quiet storm vibe. Nascimento s Vera Cruz is resurrected with a deep groove, which morphs into a spirited Tower of Babel-style vocal beat box. And Jobim s Retrato em Blanco E Preto, Inutil Paisaje, and Dindi are rendered in impassioned ballad, bossa nova-scat, and John Coltrane-ish settings. If, as the saying goes, it takes a village to raise a child, then it takes an musician open to all of the world s musical hues and grooves to produce an artist like Magos Herrera. Born in Mexico City, Magos graduated from the Musicians Institute of Technology, and studied at Mannes College of Music, the New England Conservatory, and privately with opera teacher Konstantin Jadan. She moved back to Mexico City in 1998, where she released her first CD, Cajuina (Independiente, 1998), followed by Orquideas Surrantes (JM Distributors, 2000), Whispering Orchids (Opcion Sonica, 2000), Mexican Divas II/III (Opcion Sonica, 2001-2002), Pais Maravilla (JM Distributors, 2003), Magos Herrera Compilacion (Mecca Records, 2004) and Todo Puede Inspirar (EMI Music, 2005). She s toured Latin America, India, Japan, and the United States and performed and recorded with Jerry Gonzalez, Diego el Cigala, Tim Ries, and Ute Lemper. Magos Herrera has evolved into a global-centric musician, capable of expressing herself in a multiplicity of languages, and vocal settings; from straight-ahead, ballads, scats, and the various dimensions and invention of Afro-Latin music. As Distancia, proves, no style of music is distant from her.