Chucho Valdés - Briyumba Palo Congo (Religion Of The Congo)

barabara sounds sez:

Too much talk about virtuosity and prodigious technique, not enough about the passion and balls that the great Chucho Valdés brings to the table. Catch him live and you'll be blown away.

Like the recent Sabu post, this album is inspired by the traditional rhythms of Cuba's 'Religion of the Congo' — but apart from the sheer percussive power, it's a very diffferent beast. In Chateau Barabara, it's an all-time classic.

Jazziz sez:

Pianist Valdés once again puts Cuban and American music through the speed blender of his imposing technique, swirling together cuban secular dance rhythms and religious music with swing, bop, modal, and free jazz at a dizzying pace. His second Blue Note effort away from Irakere (his long-standing Afro-Cuban answer to the Jazz Messengers) spotlights his staggering chops with a quartet featuring bassist Francisco Rubio Pampin, drummer Ra·l Pineda Roque, and percussionist Robert Vizcaino Guillet.

"El Rumbon," played over an uncharacteristically fast guaguanco rhythm, features the pianist's surreal changes of direction, as he cartwheels between hammered two-note drum patterns, McCoy Tyner-ish chords, blindingly fast lines, and blues licks. Ellington's "Caravan" features devilish left-hand patterns and accents that explode into dark, atonal note clusters, then downshift into the type of four-four chording that Erroll Garner would have related to. Valdés saves the most audacious ideas until the end of the album. "Ponle le Clave" grafts the basic clave rhythm and montuno piano vamps onto a 7/4 meter. Gershwin's familiar "Rhapsody in Blue" is reshaped as an elegant danzün.

The title track, the most experimental on the disc, blends a celebratory Palo religious chant with stride and gospel accents from Valdés. Then it opens into a free-tempo exchange between singers, percussionists, and piano, before ending with an unaccompanied piano solo that alternates between frantic energy and quiet lyricism. Sometimes, the pianist's skill and overheated imagination can get the better of him, turning the music into directionless technical displays, but when everything clicks, there are few more exciting or provocative pianists in jazz.

Personnel:

Chucho Valdes (piano, background vocals); Mayra Caridad Valdes, Juan "Chan" Campo Cardenas (vocals); Joaquin Olivero Gavilan (Cuban wooden flute); Francisco Rubio Pampin (acoustic bass, background vocals); Raul Pineda Roque (drums, background vocals); Roberto Vizcaino Guillot (congas, bata drums, background vocals); Haila Mompie Gonzalez (background vocals)

Sabu - Palo Congo

barabara sounds sez:

Sabu leads a thundering Afro-Cuban percussion session, with the great Arsenio Rodriguez among some equally impressive backing musicians. High spots in this set are Aggo Elegua and the outstanding title track, both channeling the Santaria ritual. If you're looking for more typical latin sounds, then Tribilin Cantore could be the one: Arsenio's fluid guitar lines set out a blueprint for a generation of Zairean/Congolese grooves. Laid down in 1957, the original Blue Note release was in mono; this rip is from the stereo CD reissue. Whichever way you hear it, this is powerful music.

dusty sez:

One of the most unique sessions ever cut for Blue Note — an album of very traditional Afro-Cuban jamming, led by percussionist Sabu Martinez! The music on the album's comprised mostly of percussion -- plus some occasional guitar, bass, and vocals shouted by Sabu, and group members that include Arsenio Rodriguez, Ray Romero, and Willie Capo. The whole thing's incredibly haunting — and about as different from the average Blue Note hardbop set as you could get! Titles include "Simba", "Aggo Elgua", "Tribilin Cantore", "Asabache", and "Billumba-Palo Congo".

hipwax sez:

The emotional kinship between the world of this recording and the world of jazz seems so strong at times that the distance between the worlds seems no wider than the pavement of West Fifty-Fourth Street which separates the Museum of Primitive Art from the Museum of Modern Art. Yet the step from Afro-Cuban music to jazz is a long step, for the European elements of jazz are always in the foreground, while here the latin elements of "latin" music are often imperceptible. It is mostly Africa that we hear in this recording: some rituals dedicated to African Gods, a good deal of singing and chanting in African antiphonal style, and all the instruments, whether obviously African like the quinto, a Cuban version of the slit signal drum, or as apparently European as guitar and bass, played like their African proto-types in African musical tradition. Still, the kinship is there to hear, for Afro-Cuban music shares with jazz the intense motor excitement, the rhythmic fluidity that Andre Hodeir calls vital drive, and the striving for ecstatic communion which supplies much of the motive force.

Grupo Folklorico y Experimental Nuevayorquino - Concepts in Unity

barabara sounds sez:

Infectious. Brilliant. A classic. Probably the greatest latin/salsa album of all time. Don't believe me? Ask those in the know...

descarga.com sez:

An absolute classic, virtually impossible to find in its original double LP format (both LPs make up this single CD). Some consider these sessions, which are some of the finest examples of Afro-Cuban and Afro-Puerto Rican artistry, to be the embryo of Conjunto Libre. Manny Oquendo, Andy and Jerry Gonzalez, all Libre veterans, are central to this production... It's thrilling, it's lovely, and it's a must-have.

This is an absolute must. This 1975 release is important in many ways. It was the first Latin recording ever to be reviewed by 'Down Beat' magazine (the #1 jazz periodical), which thus recognized the music as an art form to be taken seriously. It also showcased the reaffirmation of a group of New York based Latino musicians to preserving the deep roots of the culture. We also get to hear the embryonic beginnings of the careers of Manny Oquendo & Libre, Dave Valentin, Jerry Gonzalez & the Fort Apache Band, as well as folk legends like 'Chocolate' and the late Virgilio Marti. Produced by the ubiquitous Rene Lopez and Andy Kaufman, this recording oozes soul and sabor. " (Bobby Sanabria 98/99 Catalog)

amazon sez:

The legendary Grupo Folklorico y Experimental Nuevayorquino was composed of the finest New York Puerto Rican & Cuban musicians, who combined their own traditional music with the Latin sounds heard on the streets of New York City.

dusty sez:

A landmark set of highly percussive tracks! Back in the mid-70's, when Salsoul was still recording Latin music and not disco, they put out this great double album of traditional Latin percussion playing by the new revivalist Grupo Folklorico, which featured Virgilo Marti and other great New York Latin percussion players of the time. The album's a totally stripped-down mix of tracks that manages to swing all the way through — grooving in mode that has lots of the descarga touches of the 60s scene, and the mix of traditional and newer styles of the 70s years. This CD includes all the tracks from the double album, including "Cuba Linda", "Choco's Guajira", "A Papa Y Mama", and "Adelaida".

GRUPO FOLKLORICO y EXPERIMENTAL NUEVAYORQUINO are:

Andy Gonzalez bass and leader; Manny Oquendo timbales, bongos and percussion: Jerry Gonzalez trumpet and percussion; Gene Golden congas, bata drums and percussion; Nelson Gonzalez tres; Oscar Hernandez piano; Eddy Zervigon flute; Jorge Luis Maldonado vocals; Pedro “Pedrito” Martinez vocals, bata drums and percussion; Reynaldo Jorge trombone; Eddie Venegas trombone and violin; Abraham Rodriguez vocals, bata drums and percussion; Tony Rosa congas, bata drums and percussion; Guido Gonzalez trumpet; plus surprise guests.

Song titles:

Cuba Linda; Choco's Guajira; Anabacoa; Adelaida; Luz Delja; Carmen La Ronca; Canto Asoyin; Canto Ebioso; A Papa Y Mama; Iya Modupue