Descarga.com Classics Revisited, Issue #19 (Machito, Palmieri, Tjader, Ponceña, Tito Rodriguez)

Sat Apr 14 16:35:29 EDT 2007

The Descarga Review
Classics Revisited, Issue #19 • April 14, 2007

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Classics Revisited, Issue #19
Refreshing the parts of the Descarga.com catalog that other reviews  
don't reach.
by John Child

MACHITO AND HIS AFRO-CUBANS
Soul Of Machito: Machito & His Orchestra
Fania / Emusica - Remastered Edition
Originally released: 1971
Reissued: 2006
Category: DANCE TRADITIONS; TROPICAL DANCE: VARIOUS; CUBA
EditorsPick: **Classics Revisited**
In 1968 the boogaloo craze was raging and Machito was without a  
recording contract. George Goldner stepped into breach and signed him  
to his new Cotique label. The result, after a false start, was the  
Soul Of Machito (1969), reissued in 2006 with excellent liner notes  
by José Madera together with previously unpublished personnel  
credits. In conversation with me for the upcoming Descarga.com piece  
The Machito Orchestra: Yesterday, Today And Tomorrow, Machito's son,  
percussionist and bandleader Mario Grillo, cites the Soul Of Machito  
as one of his four favourite Machito albums. "I went to that  
recording as a kid," explains Mario, "it was Machito keeping with the  
times and following the philosophy: If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.  
But the album is terrific. 'Ahora Si', a boogaloo, written by Joey  
Pastrana (a major player in the boogaloo era), put Machito on the map  
again with the youth of the day, who only knew Machito from their  
parents and grandparents record collections. Now, Machito was hip and  
the tunes like 'El Santo En Nueva York', 'Jammin' With Machito' and  
'Donde Aprendiste' were dynamite and kept the dancers on the ballroom  
floor all night."
Very Highly Recommended. (John Child)

SONG TITLES:
1. Ahora Si (4:56) 2. Que Musica Mas Linda (3:10) 3. Soy Montuno  
(4:03) 4. Mango (3:20) 5. Au Revoir (2:55) 6. Ritmo Melon (4:17) 7.  
Donde Aprendiste (2:52) 8. El Santo En Nueva York (3:18) 9. Cuatro  
Patas (2:59) 10. Jammin' With Machito (5:15)
MUSICIANS:
• Don Palmer: Alto sax
• Danny Turner: Alto sax
• Mario Bauza: Alto sax
• José "Pin" Madera: Tenor sax
• Stanley Bronstein: Tenor sax
• Leslie Johnakins: Baritone sax
• Nilo Argudin: Trumpet
• Alfredo Chocolate Armenteros: Trumpet
• Roy Burroughs: Trumpet
• Mike Rios: Piano
• Evaristo Baro: Bass
• Julian Cabrera: Conga
• Chino Pozo: Bongo
• Frank Colon: Timbales
• Machito: Coro
• Felo Brito: Coro
• Graciela: Coro
Price: $13.98

• Click here to Order Soul Of Machito: Machito & His Orchestra Now!

EDDIE PALMIERI
Azucar Pa' Ti (Sugar For You)
Fania / Emusica - Remastered Edition
Originally released: 1965
Reissued: 2007
Category: SALSA/SON; SALSA: CLASSIC 1960s or 1970s NEW YORK
EditorsPick: **Classics Revisited**
The careers of Eddie Palmieri and his collaborator, trombonist Barry  
Rogers, together with this album, have received some studious  
attention from Descarga.com and elsewhere over the last decade. For  
instance, in his seminal piece on Rogers for Descarga.com in 1999  
(click here), David Carp cites the opening track, the bolero "Solo  
Pensar En Ti", as one of the "genuine and wonderful forms of musical  
dialogue between Eddie and Barry." He describes the trombone-based  
introduction as "replete with mystery and expectation" and asks:  
"Exactly who created this arrangement? To me the real question is  
this: could such an arrangement have been created in any way other  
than the Palmieri/Rogers collaboration?" Speaking to Carp and Bruce  
Polin of Descarga.com in 1998 (click here), Eddie explained that the  
title track "Azúcar" was a hit on the street with New York's African- 
American community one and a half to two years before he recorded it  
for this album. The cut broke customary time constraints with a  
running time of over nine minutes. "'Oyelo Que Te Conviene' I wrote  
for José Mangual Sr.," said Eddie in the June/July 2002 edition of  
Latin Beat magazine. "José only stayed a little while in the band. I  
did the chart for him, but he left," This reissue's liner note  
writer, Aurora Flores, asserts that Azúcar Pa' Ti "has got to be the  
definitive Eddie Palmieri recording during his early days with La  
Perfecta." Check out this nicely remastered CD as well as the  
aforementioned Descarga.com pieces in the Journal Archives and make  
up your own mind.
Very Highly Recommended. (John Child)

Description: Our highest recommendation. A 1965 classic. This version  
of "Azucar" is incredible. This is supposedly the first recording  
where Palmieri's doing a montuno with one hand while soloing with the  
other. I love this record. Features the now legendary trombonist  
Barry Rogers and timbalero Manny Oquendo. With singer Ismael "Pat"  
Quintana.
Very Highly Recommended. (BP)

SONG TITLES:
1. Solo Pensar En Ti (3:49) 2. Mi Sonsito (5:23) 3. Azucar (9:33) 4.  
Cuidate Compay (5:40) 5. Los Cueros Me Llaman (5:17) 6. Tema Del  
Apollo (2:31) 7. Oyelo Que Te Conviene (3:34)
MUSICIANS:
• Eddie Palmieri: Piano
• Barry Rogers: Trombone
• Manny Oquendo: Timbales, bongo
• Ismael Quintana: Lead vocals
• and many others...
Price: $13.98

• Click here to Order Azucar Pa' Ti (Sugar For You) Now!

EDDIE PALMIERI
Eddie Palmieri & Cal Tjader: Bamboleate
Fania / Emusica - Remastered Edition
Originally released: 1967
Reissued: 2007
Category: SALSA/SON; SALSA: CLASSIC 1960s or 1970s NEW YORK
EditorsPick: **Classics Revisited**
In about 1965, Cal Tjader showed up in New York where he saw Eddie  
Palmieri and his Conjunto La Perfecta performing at the Cheetah club.  
Cal proposed to Eddie that they record together: "Give me your band,  
the whole shit." A deal was struck between Morris Levy of Tico  
Records (Eddie's label) and Creed Taylor of MGM/Verve (Cal's) that  
they do an exchange of artists. The sublime results were El Sonido  
Nuevo / The New Soul Sound (Verve, 1966) and Bamboleate (Tico, 1967),  
the second regarded by many as among Tjader's best, La Perfecta  
lending a harder edge to his usual work. "The key was Bobby  
Rodríguez, the greatest Latin bass player we ever had," said Eddie in  
1999. "The band was at its peak." Bobby solos on "Mi Montuno" which  
he co-wrote with Eddie. Neither the original vinyl release of  
Bamboleate nor this reissue credit the sidemen, but in addition to  
Bobby it's unmistakably Ismael "Pat" Quintana's voice providing  
chorus vocals. Pat calls out the name of Barry (Rogers) during his  
trombone solo at the beginning of the title track. Though on re- 
listening to the album after so long, surprisingly to me, is that the  
voice of Willie Torres calling out "Kako, Kako. A comer" at the  
opening of the timbales solo on the same track? Other suspects must  
surely include percussionist Manny Oquendo and Mark Weinstein (who  
wrote one track) on trombone. A stone classic.
Very Highly Recommended. (John Child)

SONG TITLES:
1. Bamboleate (3:23) 2. We've Loved Before (2:28) 3. Resemblance  
(5:38) 4. Mi Montuno (5:21) 5. Samba Do Suenho (3:51) 6. Guajira  
Candela (3:46) 7. Pancho's Seis Por Ocho (5:36) 8. Come And Get It  
(3:03)
MUSICIANS:
• Eddie Palmieri: Piano
• Cal Tjader: Vibes
• Bobby Rodríguez: Bass
• Barry Rogers, Mark Weinstein: Trombones
• Ismael Quintana: Vocals
• ...others
Price: $13.98

• Click here to Order Eddie Palmieri & Cal Tjader: Bamboleate Now!

LA SONORA PONCEÑA
Explorando
Fania / Emusica - Remastered Edition
Originally released: 1978
Reissued: 2007
Category: SALSA/SON; SALSA
EditorsPick: **Classics Revisited**
Though presaged earlier, Sonora Ponceña's current distinctive style  
began to crystallize: crisp, lucid, restrained yet swinging, with  
intricate trumpet textures, on Explorando (Inca, 1978), regarded as  
one of their best albums, all arranged by Papo Lucca, who took over  
as the band's producer with the trumpets increased from three to  
four. Papo admits that the frontline was inspired by Conjunto Casino,  
the popular Cuban band of the '40s and '50s. Tito Gómez, a member of  
Ponceña from 1968 to 1973, returned to share lead vocals with  
Miguelito Ortiz and the underrated Yolanda Rivera. The hit track  
"Jubileo 20" marked band's 20th anniversary. Another hit was "Moreno  
Soy" ("I Am Brown"): a testimony of Puerto Rico's racially mixed  
identity. This was Papo's arrangement of "Naci Moreno" ("Born Brown")  
recorded by Bobby Valentín for his 1978 album Musical Seduction on  
Bronco, where it was sung by Luigi Texidor, a former Ponceña vocalist  
who had breached his contract with Fania Records to join Valentín's  
band. An undoubted highlight for me is Yolanda's rendition of the  
guanguacó "Se Formó", featuring some serious conga action from Little  
Johnny Rivero.
Very Highly Recommended. (John Child)

SONG TITLES:
1. Jubileo 20 (5:03) 2. Se Formo (5:26) 3. Te Quiero Tanto (3:47) 4.  
Moreno Soy (6:32) 5. Sentimento Jibaro (5:02) 6. Suena El Piano  
(4:28) 7. No Has De Verme Llorar (3:39) 8. Canto Al Amor (6:37)
MUSICIANS:
• Enrique "Quique" Lucca: Leader
• Enrique "Papo" Lucca Jr.: Piano
• Ramón A. Rodríguez (Tony): Trumpet
• Luis R. Castro (Cuchy): Trumpet
• Delfin Pérez: Trumpet
• Humberto Godineaux: Trumpet
• Angel Hernandez: Bongo
• Vicente Johnny Rivero: Congas
• Jessie Colón: Timbales
• Antonio Santaella: Bass
• Yolanda Rivera: Vocals
• Miguel Ortiz: Vocals
• Tito Gómez: Vocals
Price: $13.98

• Click here to Order Explorando Now!

TITO RODRIGUEZ
Mambo Madness
Fania / Emusica - Remastered Edition
Originally released: 1959
Reissued: 2006
Category: DANCE TRADITIONS; MAMBO, CHA CHA CHA
EditorsPick: **Classics Revisited**
Tito Rodríguez was "equally talented as an up-tempo improvising  
sonero and a romantic singer," wrote John Storm Roberts in The Latin  
Tinge (1979). "At its peak, the Rodríguez band's blend of Cuban- 
oriented numbers and tight, solo-filled instrumentals equalled any of  
his rivals" After paying his dues with the likes of Enric Madriguera,  
Xavier Cugat, Noro Morales and José Curbelo, Tito signed with Tico  
Records. He did two stints with the label, between 1949 and 1953 and  
between 1956 and 1958, during which time he released 78s, six 10 inch  
volumes of mambos and four 12 inch albums: Mambo Madness (c. 1956),  
the fourth in Tico's 12 inch series launched in the mid-'50s, Wa-Pa- 
Cha (1957), Latin Jewels (1958) and Señor Tito Rodríguez (1958). This  
finely remastered edition of Mambo Madness was not freshly recorded  
material at the time of its original release (given in the liner  
notes as 1959 [sic]), but a collection of sides Tito made during his  
first period with Tico. Five of the tracks were previously issued in  
Volumes One, Four and Five of his Mambos series of 10 inch LPs. The  
emphasis is obviously on mambos, but also included are covers of  
Bobby Capó's classic bolero "Piel Canela" and Enrique Jorrín's  
trailblazing cha cha chá "La Engañadora" - a hit for Orquesta América  
in 1953 - transcribed from its original charanga format to suit  
Tito's trumpet-led conjunto. Timeless and essential stuff.
Very Highly Recommended. (John Child)

SONG TITLES:
1. La Engañadora (2:55) 2. Mambo Manila (3:09) 3. Harlem Nightmare  
(2:49) 4. Mambo La Libertad (3:03) 5. Chen Chere En Guma (2:53) 6.  
Chiqui-Bop (2:48) 7. Donde Estabas Tu (3:10) 8. Joe Lustig Mambo  
(3:26) 9. Besame La Bembita (3:11) 10. Tremendo Cumban (2:50) 11.  
Esto Es Felicidad (2:58) 12. Piel Canela (3:05)
MUSICIANS:
• Tito Rodriguez: Cantante
• Al Beck: Trompeta
• Wilie Dubas: Trompeta
• Paquito Davila: Trompeta
• Chino González: Trompeta
• Tommy Garcia: Piano
• Luis Barreto: Bajo
• Ignacio Reyes: Timbales
• Ray Tinto: Bongo
• Chuck Miala: Conga
Price: $13.98

• Click here to Order Mambo Madness Now!

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