Panamá 77 (2022)

"Though jazz is at the core of Panamá 77, in its collaborative nature and loose progressions, in its embrace of unpredictability and above all, groove. But it often feels like a really good DJ mix, Villarreal playing selector as he transitions from a harder funk rhythm to a sultry slow jam, or from a more traditional Panamanian sound to the kind of shape-shifting style definable only by the International Anthem community of which he’s now a part. It probably also shouldn’t come as any surprise that Villarreal is, in addition to everything else, a DJ. To engage with Panamá 77 is to understand the sounds that shaped the artist behind it, and with any luck those same sounds will guide the listener to continue to dig deeper into those roots and influences. Simply enjoying it, however, is automatic, its warmly melodic and wildly animated mélange of sounds made for nonstop summer listening." (treblezine.com)