World & Latin
VOICES Notes and news on World & Latin releases
International Spirit
17 NOV 09 JOHN C. BRUENING
If the holidays are truly about renewing the commitment to peace and goodwill, then what better time of year for music that bridges cultural and ideological divides? Hiroshima's Spirit Of The Season, released on Heads Up in 2004, is a collection of eleven holiday tracks -- some traditional, some original -- that showcase the band's three-decade legacy of merging Western and Latin jazz with traditional Eastern music.
The title track opens the set, with lyrics sung by Terry Steele that focus less on the stuff in the stores and more on the intangibles of the heart that are far more valuable and enduring than anything on the shelves. Underscoring it all is June Kuramoto's Japanese koto, Dan Kuramoto's synthesizer and tenor sax and additional instrumentation from pianist Kimo Cornwell, bassist Dean Cortez and drummer Danny Yamamoto
Among the highlights are the quiet but stirring "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" and the pensive "White Christmas." Steele lends his pipes to the poignant "I'll Be Home for Christmas," while a four-note segment from Mel Tormé's classic "The Christmas Song" is reconfigured into a compelling riff for the richly layered "Peace on Earth." In the home stretch, "Winter Wonderland" takes a Latin turn with steel pans and exquisitely layered percussion, while Steele provides a straightforward but emotionally resonant reading of the inevitable closer, "Silent Night."
Traditional Japanese stringed instruments alongside jazz saxophones underscored by Latin rhythms, all tied up in a bow for the holidays? Why not? If the most influential religious figure of the past two millennia can be born in a barn on a pile of straw, anything can happen.
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Winter Wonderland
Hiroshima, from Spirit Of The Season
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The Christmas Song / Autumn Leaves
Mel Torme, from The Best Of The Concord ...
in this playlist.
The Sweetest Change
03 NOV 09 JOHN C. BRUENING
By the time the world met "Grandpa" Elliott Small in April 2009 via Playing For Change's two-disc Songs Around The World CD/DVD, he'd already been busking in New Orleans' French Quarter for more than 60 years. Small is now the first artist to sign with Playing For Change Records. Backed by the Playing for Change Band, he stepped off the streets and into the studio earlier this year to record Sugar Sweet, a collection of blues and soul classics delivered courtesy of his soulful baritone vocals and versatile harmonica style.
His stirring version of "Stand By Me" on Songs Around The World became the anchor track for the set that captured him and 36 other little-known but brilliant street musicians from around the world. The track and the accompanying video that went viral on YouTube and elsewhere transformed him into an unlikely global superstar.
Sugar Sweet opens with "Ain't Nothing You Can Do," a Bobby "Blue" Bland hit that -- despite the melancholy subject matter -- sounds unexpectedly upbeat here. "Sugar Is Sweet" derives its international groove from guitarists Jason Tamba and Louis Mhlanga (from the Congo and Zimbabwe, respectively), who set up a rumba beat supported by drummer Peter Bunetta. Other highlights include the emotionally churning "Share Your Love With Me," which Small borrows from an Aretha Franklin recording, and a straightforward take on the Sam Cooke hit "Another Saturday Night."
Despite the melancholy closer, "Please Come Home For Christmas," there's no need for tears. After a long stretch of lean decades, Santa's been good to Elliott Small this year and Grandpa seems more than happy to spread the love.
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Sugar Is Sweet
Grandpa Elliott, from Sugar Sweet
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Stand By Me
Playing For Change, from Songs Around The ...
in this playlist.
¡Oy Caramba!
23 OCT 09 JOHN C. BRUENING
In the 1950s, the mambo and other strains of Latin dance music were hugely popular among Jewish Americans, especially those in New York. This unlikely phenomenon prompted a handful of Latin artists -- Ray Barretto, Willie Rodriguez, Charlie Palmieri, Clark Terry and Doc Cheatham -- to take the cross-cultural experiment a step farther by recording traditional Yiddish and Hebrew music with cha-chas, meringues and other Latin dance rhythms. Operating under the fictitious band name of Juan Calle and His Latin Lanztmen, the group released Mazel Tov, Mis Amigos on the Riverside label in 1961. The album was remastered by the nonprofit Idelsohn Society for Musical Preservation and re-released on Concord this past August.
Mazel Tov, Mis Amigos takes traditional -- and sometimes somber -- melodies and turns up the juice, with the help of the lively rhythms churning underneath. Driving congas are at the heart of "O Momme," while "Papirossen," the classic Yiddish ode to a cigarette peddler, is reconfigured here as a high-energy mambo. And Jewish or not, you've probably never heard "Havah Nagila" quite the way it's captured here.
In conjunction with the re-release of the album, the Idelsohn Society also staged a free outdoor performance of the recording in its entirety -- a sort of Yiddish Woodstock -- at New York's Lincoln Center that same month. Led by Arturo O'Farrill and His Afro-Cuban Sextet, the concert lineup included Larry Harlow, Andy Gonzalez of the Fort Apache Band and 94-year-old keyboardist Irving Fields, founder of the Bagels and Bongos trio that rode the original wave of Jewish-Latin music in the '50s.
Mazel Tov, Mis Amigos reopens a little known but fascinating chapter in post-WWII ethno-musical history.
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Havah Nagilah
Juan Calle, from Mazel Tov, Mis Amigos
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Oye Heck
Ray Barretto, from Carnaval
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Brasileira
Willie Rodriguez Jazz Quartet, from Flatja ...
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The Simple Waltz
Clark Terry, from Mellow Moods
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Pura Emocion
Arturo O'Farrill, from Blood Lines
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Dance Cadaverous
Jerry Gonzales & The Fort Apache Band ...
in this playlist.
Poncho Rides Again!
14 OCT 09 CHRIS SLAWECKI
Latin percussionist Poncho Sanchez recently released his 24th album for Concord Picante. Although it's titled Psychedelic Blues, it's actually a very jazz-oriented release. The set opens with a trademark Sanchez Latin groove through Herbie Hancock's classic (and often sampled, very covered) "Cantaloupe Island," followed by a cover of Freddie Hubbard's "Crisis" master-blasted by Latin trumpet legend Arturo Sandoval. Cast in a danceable mambo, Horace Silver's "Silver's Serenade" later illuminates its colorful union of Latin rhythms with jazz trombone, piano and conga solos.
Psychedelic Blues also reminds me that I almost always, and somewhat curiously, think of and describe Sanchez's music in terms of food. Some music, for whatever reason, makes me think in colors, but Pucho's music usually makes me use words like "sticky," "thick," and "spicy." This new "Willie Bobo Medley," which strings together "I Don't Know" with the tasty "Fried Neckbones and Some Homefries" and "Spanish Grease," sure sounds finger-lickin' good. Like well-prepared, authentic Spanish and Mexican food, Psychedelic Blues delivers extremely sensual, often quite lusty, pleasures. Maybe it's not that curious -- just look at all the food names in these few words.
There are too many fine albums in Sanchez's extensive Concord Picante catalog to fully detail, but its highlights certainly include Chile Con Soul (with guest Tito Puente), Afro-Cuban Fantasy, and Poncho's tribute to his first and most famous employer, Soul Sauce: Memories Of Cal Tjader.
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Cantaloupe Island
Poncho Sanchez, from Psychedelic Blues
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Born To Be Blue
Freddie Hubbard, from Born To Be Blue
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Mama Guela
Poncho Sanchez, from Chile Con Soul
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Guarachando
Arturo Sandoval, from Rumba Palace
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Close Your Eyes
Poncho Sanchez, from Afro-Cuban Fantasy
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Tumbao
Cal Tjader, from The Best Of Cal Tjader: ...
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Poinciana Cha Cha
Poncho Sanchez, from Soul Sauce: ...
in this playlist.
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