CD Reviews for February 2013

(Photo by Massimo Montovani)

Let us begin with a few words of praise for the terrestrial CD store, or as we used to call it, the record store A recent trip to Miami gave us an excuse to run through two of our favorites, the Museo del Disco on SW 70th Street (close to Calle Ocho) and Casino Records (no website) on Calle Ocho. We also like Lily's on Calle Ocho for some things, but our best finds are usually at the first two.Yes, we know that most of you probably buy on-line these days, but you are missing out on some things when you don't do the physical experience. For one thing, it's a lot harder to go crate-digging on line. When I'm in a real store, I usually walk out with finds that I was never looking for in the first place. Those finds are often better than the things I was looking for. You may also hear something over the loudspeakers that you never dreamed you might like. This has happened to me more than once.

(Photo by Alejandro Azcuy)

Also, the physical CD, if done as well as it should be, will come with liner notes telling you more about the band, the musicians and the project. If you truly care about the details surrounding the band and the recording, track downloads won't get you there from here, and if you hope to rely on the band's website, well, good luck with that. Some are better than others, and most websites aren't forever.

(Cover photo by Jose Ortega)

So, if you have one of these kinds of stores where you live, take the time to go check it out. It's worth the trouble. In the meantime, here are three reviews of interesting CDs we acquired recently; the last two came from the stores in Miami:

For a review of Omar Sosa 's Eggūn, click here.
For a review of Maykel Blanco 's A Toda Maquina , click here.
For a review of Leslie Cartaya 's No Pares , click here.

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Monday, 18 February 2013, 04:36 PM

PRELUDIO As I type this, I can already hear the screams of some of my most hard-line Timbero friends and colleagues that I have committed the supreme blasphemy by writing an extended article here about a Salsa Congress, so please allow me to begin by addressing those dear friends. For quite some time now, I have been wandering about looking for insights into whether there are ways to effectively tackle the biggest challenge facing Timba music in the United States: we as a community have basically failed to attract the levels of mass paying (that word "paying" is important) audiences that the music truly deserves, and at the very time when it is politically easier than it has ever been for bands to tour the United States from Cuba, the economic realities of the position of Timba music in the marketplace have slowed what could be a flood of amazing bands touring the country to a relative trickle touring primarily the East and West coasts. Even in those places, the audience numbers have frequently failed to live up to initial expectations. What's more, many of the US-based bands that play Timba have either fallen upon hard times, adapted by playing more fusion and/or Salsa and/or survived by touring extensively out of the United States. There are a prosperous few, but they are exceptions that prove the rule. This problem is truly odd because much of the Salsa audience is already halfway home - many of the songs they listen to were written and originally performed in Cuba, and most of the most important roots of Salsa come from Cuban music..... click here to read the full article >>>

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Saturday, 16 February 2013, 05:13 AM

(Machito is in the center on maracas)

Francisco Raúl Gutiérrez "Machito" Grillo was born on February 16, 19-something - the most commonly used years are 1908 followed by 1912, 1909 and occasionally 1915. Accounts also differ as to whether he was born in Havana or in Tampa of Cuban parents. A few things are certain:

1. For decades from the 1940s to the 1980s, he had one of the most important Afro-Cuban Jazz orchestras in the United States. It was his brother-in-law and musical director, Mario Bauza, that introduced Dizzy Gillespie to Chano Pozo. He also used Jazz musicians like Charlie Parker, Brew Moore and Howard McGhee to lay the foundations of a style that became known as Cubop.
2. The powerful section work in his band inspired other big band leaders such as Stan Kenton to borrow elements of his music in their own work.
3. He made numerous recordings, and his 1975 album Oro, Incienso y Mirra with Dizzy Gillespie was nominated for a GRAMMY and remains one of the acknowledged classics of AfroCuban Jazz recorded in the United States. .

In modern times, his son, Mario Grillo, carries on with a current version of the band. You can learn more at their website, http://www.machitoorchestranyc.com/
The 75th Anniversary of the original orchestra will be coming up next year. We salute this giant of the music on the one hundred and something-eth anniversary of his birth.

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Sunday, 03 February 2013, 03:56 AM

Maraca's You Tube channel continues to grow, and it recently posted some live footage of him with Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Al Di Meola and others. Here's a nice taste of them improvising:

Watch also for the forthcoming release of two new recordings as well - a Jazz one (Todo o nada) and a dance one (Suspendan los comentarios). A national tour of Cuba is planned in April 2013. Also, in August 2013, Maraca will appear with Hubert Laws at the International Flute Convention in New Orleans.