2012 - The Year of the Bass

Legendary NG La Banda bassist Feliciano Arango (winner of the timba.com readers' poll in that category) and his co-author, bassist Cherina Mastrantones, have finished their second book (first book here). This one has all the best NG tracks transcribed all the way through and joins Standing in the Shadows of Motown as one of the best bass books every written. I hope to join that list in about a month with a book on Alain Pérez, but more on that laterl

As someone who has spent far too much time transcribing Cuban basslines, I'm knocked out by the choice of material and the quality of the notation to say nothing of the subject. I rank Arango among the four most creative and inspired tumbao creators - the other three being Humberto Perera, Pedro Pablo Gutiérrez and Alain Pérez. I've got Alain covered - with four books plus audio and video coming soon (also Melón video), and Rob Holland keeps threatening to write a book on Humberto, who's also covered in Roots of Timba. That leaves Pedro Pablo. We only have this. Hopefully Rebambaramba, or someone else, will bring Pedro on tour soon.

Meanwhile, Arango's current group, Los Hermanos Arango, will be "in residence" at Berklee School of Music for 10 days in late February and there are encouraging signs that they may play elsewhere (Chicago perhaps). Their visas are good until July, so if you have any suggested venues, please write in. [Kevin Moore]

| Share

Sunday, 08 January 2012, 09:16 PM

Beyond Salsa for Ensemble -- all 350 pages and 464 audio files of it -- will be out later this week - click here for a preview with audio excerpts. Next up: Beyond Salsa Bass with Alain Pérez, then Beyond Salsa Bongó with Carlos Caro. Stay tuned. [Kevin Moore]

| Share

Monday, 02 January 2012, 10:52 AM

Eddie Palmieri tore it up at Yoshi's SF last month - here's Tom Ehrlich's extensive new gallery. Happy New Year to all!

Book News: I've been deep underwater working on Beyond Salsa for Ensemble, which will be about 350 pages long, with almost 500 audio files, 36 wild timba efectos (aka bloques) transcribed for the full rhythm section and a full note-for-note chart of a Pupy y los que Son Son song, ready for the gig. As soon as I get this done I'll be moving on to Beyond Salsa Bass, featuring one of the greatest figures of the entire timba era - Alain Pérez. [Kevin Moore]

| Share

Sunday, 11 December 2011, 03:11 PM

The Creole Choir of Cuba or Grupo Vocal Desandann as they are called in Cuba, formed in 1994. Their ancesters are from Haiti and the group is from Camagüey, Cuba. The Creole Choir sing and dance to traditional Haitian music, using only drums, percussion instruments and beautiful lush vocal harmonies. Their first US tour began in September, 2011. I caught them in San Francisco on November 3, 2011 - click here for the full gallery. [Tom Ehrlich]