In 2007 El Pikete recorded a "live in the studio" album in San Francisco - no overdubs, no punching in - they just set up their instruments and played their original songs. It's an amazing album that only such a well-rehearsed group could pull off.

During the session, I set up 3 cameras - one on pianist Pepe Montes, one on bassist Victoriano Nápoles, and a third which captures Mipa the conguero, JC the violinist and José Rodríguez the drummer/timbalero. LatinPulseMusic painstakingly combined the audio from the session with the video footage such that the one channel has only the instrument being studied and the other has a mix of everything else for a "timba minus one" effect.

Since the product has been on the market, various Pikete aficionados have sent in transcriptions. All in all, it's a great example of musicians working together to decipher the mysteries of this great Cuban music. It's an ongoing project - to see how it's coming along, click these links often:

Video Clase Timba Bajo 1 Pikete
Video Clase Timba Piano 1 Pikete
El Pikete Piano Transcriptions 1