The title Música De Las Américas might suggest that alto saxophonist Miguel Zenón has given us a set of interpretations of already existing music from the Americas. But these eight tracks are all Zenón originals, inspired not only by the varied musical idioms across these continents, but also by the complex cultural and political histories of the places themselves. It’s a concept he has made his life’s work: finding within the folkloric and popular roots of Latin American music the raw materials for his own language as a jazz composer. With the members of his longtime working quartet—pianist Luis Perdomo, bassist Hans Glawischnig, drummer Henry Cole—Zenón meditates on the fate of vanished cultures on “Tainos y Caribes” and “Imperios”; the unique story of Haiti on “Opresión y Revolución” (featuring guest percussionist Paoli Mejías); and the world-changing impact of Afro Caribbean dance rhythms on “Bámbula” (featuring Víctor Emmanuelli on the Puerto Rican barril de bomba drum). The five singer-percussionists of Los Pleneros de La Cresta join on “Navegando,” vividly recalling the sound of Zenón’s 2010 classic, Esta Plena. Zenón’s writing, and alto playing for that matter, is dense and rhythmically charged but also elegant and somehow light as a feather. And the quartet’s cohesion, developed over nearly two decades, is something few bands can match (listen and marvel at the final 20 seconds of “Imperios”).