RUMBACHÉ AT MOE'S ALLEY
SANTA CRUZ, CA
JULY 31, 2008

PHOTOS BY TOM EHRLICH
TEXT BY KEVIN MOORE
© 2008

In 1999 and 2000, the San Francisco Bay Area hosted well over 150 timba concerts from Los Van Van, Bamboleo, Charanga Habanera, Issac Delgado, Paulito FG, Manolín, Adalberto, Irakere, et al. This golden era came to an abrupt halt when George Bush, in one of the first of his many tragically stupid decisions, pulled the plug on entry visas for visiting musicians.

In the 8 long years that followed, the Cuban bands, while not seen, were definitely not forgotten. Bay Area musicians like Patricio Angulo and Colin Douglas took up the challenge thrown down by their Havana counterparts and began the long task of integrating the huge musical advancements of the 90s into the local scene. I was extremely excited when I began to write about their first incarnation, Quimbombó, but with Rumbaché they've taken it up several levels.

First of all, they've added a significant number of original songs, composed by various combinations of at least 5 different members.

Patricio Angulo: conguero, timbalero, leader and composer

Sam Bevans: bassist and composer

Lina Luna: vocalist and composer

Also contributing to the group's original material are pianist Jason Moen (not present at Moe's) and vocalist Omar Ledezma (see below).

Second, and most exciting for me, they've fully integrated a bona fide system of gears and numbered bloques that they can apply to every song, lifting them once and for all out of the "salsa band with obligatory timba cover tune" category.

I can testify from extensive personal experience that trying to get timba "gears" to work in an American band can be an unbelievably daunting task, but Patricio is determined, talented, intelligent, and he has a trump card - a "ringer" as it were - in the person of Colin Douglas.

Colin Douglas: drums

Douglas appears to be a soft-spoken white kid from LA, but he has a profound and very natural understanding of Cuban music, as you can hear from his masterful work with Grupo Olubatá which has produced perhaps the most useful and musical batá study program available. He teaches each year at the world-famous Humboldt Afro-Cuban Dance and Drum course, and has promised next year to include a special class on the various styles of timba trap drum playing.

Rumbaché's other "ringer", Omar Ledezma, is a magical new addition to the Bay Area scene. Omar is technically Venezuelan, not Cuban, but after living, studying and gigging in Cuba for a period of years, his singing and percussion chops are very Cuban indeed, as he demonstrated in his brilliant performances with Danny Lozada last year, and prior to that, as a member of La Timba Loca. Omar exudes electrical, effortless, euphoric timba energy from every pore.

Lina Luna and Omar Ledezma

Rumbaché will be at the San José Jazz Festival on Saturday, August 9, and you can keep up with their future gigs at the website, and their myspace page.

MORE PHOTOS FROM TOM EHRLICH

Sub-pianist Bob Crawford

I was disappointed at first when I didn't see Jason Moen, a Rumbaché mainstay, but Bob Crawford played his ass off. We're trying to learn more about this guy.

Bob Crawford, Sam Bevans

Bob Crawford, Sam Bevans, Colin Douglas

Omar Ledezma, Colin Douglas

Evan Francis & Patricio Angulo:

Lina Luna & Omar Ledezma:

Patricio Angulo:

Sam Bevans:

Bob Crawford, Sam Bevans