Pianist Barry Cuda is a longtime fixture on the Key West scene and has pounded out thousands of gigs at Sloppy Joe’s and the like. Lately his career has taken a much more interesting turn as he’s become a serious student of early jazz and Caribbean music. New World Blues Roots, Cuda’s best album so far, pairs him with Professor Longhair’s old conguero, Alfred “Uganda” Roberts, and the results are all good. Roberts sits well with the Cuban composers (Garay, Lecuona, Saumell) but the big surprise here is how he fits with the non-Latin world of Robert Shaw and “Little Brother” Montgomery. There’s also some calypso and Martiniquan biguine for lagniappe and, of course, some Fess material. This is a very dulce album, one that will surprise you with its constantly shifting material.