Pianist Silvano Monasterios was born in Caracas, Venezuela, and had a substantial career going there as a teenager when he decided to strengthen his jazz chops with study in the United States. Over the next decade he won numerous awards in competitions along with his degrees. "Unconditional," his second album as a leader, finds him in excellent form, bringing his Venezuelan roots to contemporary jazz exploration. A spry pianist, taking off on fanciful excursions at every turn, Monasterios wrote seven of the tunes and co-wrote the eighth. The album showcases his considerable compositional talents along with his keyboard prowess. He is capable of beautiful melodies as he demonstrates on the title tune, a gorgeous ballad. But he's not above good, old-fashioned funk, as evidenced by "Monsieur Petit Noir." No small part of the swagger of this cut is due to the saxophone honking of band mate Troy Roberts. Monasterios is nicely supported throughout by Roberts; Jon Dadurka and Gabriel Vivas on bass; Rodolfo Zu�iga, drums and Jos� Gregorio Hern�ndez, percussion.