Bebo Valdés y su Orquesta Sabor de Cuba Canto a la Habana (2001)

Cuban jazz legend Bebo Valdés is in charge of this wonderful soundtrack for Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal's animated film about the romance between a singer and a pianist, set in La Havana and New York of the '40s and '50s. In addition to Valdés, the main performers include Freddy Cole, Jimmy Heath, Idania Valdés, Germán Velasco, and Amadito Valdés, in a collection of both originals and jazz and bolero standards arranged by Michael Philip Mossman. Estrella Morente sings the main title song, "Lily."

It's great to see the music of Nino Rota getting so much attention. He was a wonderful composer, and the ballet suite from La strada may be his orchestral masterpiece (just a quick note: the French language title identifies this as a suite from the eponymous film; it is in fact the more familiar arrangement of the later ballet). There are now four competitive recordings of this piece, the least interesting of which is on Chandos with the Teatro Massimo orchestra: not bad, but not as well played or recorded as either Muti's slightly stiff version with the excellent La Scala forces, or Atma's brilliant recent release featuring the Greater Montréal Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra under Yannick Nézet-Séguin. All of the couplings differ in various ways, though Muti also has the dances from Il gattopardo (The Leopard).

Sa vie s’effritait. En l’espace de trois ans, l’auteure à succès du New York Times et enseignante spirituelle du sixième sens Sonia Choquette, avait pleuré la mort subite de deux membres de sa famille, vu son mariage imploser et perdu le soutien de deux collègues en qui elle avait mis sa confiance. …

Hace tres años, Nueva Orleans fue arrasada por el Huracán Katrina dejando tras de sí cerca de 1.500 muertos. Esta catástrofe fue la que inspiró al cubano Chucho Valdés para componer su nuevo disco, Canto a Dios, una oración para que "no vuelva a suceder nada igual", ha explicado hoy el músico. En este álbum, que se presenta ahora en España, Chucho Valdés (hijo del también músico cubano Bebo Valdés) ha reunido cinco temas, dos de ellos inéditos, en los que junto con la Orquesta y el Coro Nacional de Cuba fusiona el jazz con la música sinfónica en un tributo a la ciudad de Nueva Orleans, el río Misisipi y África.

In 2009 Chucho Valdes, a pianist, instrumentalist, and composer who already had four Grammy Awards and is regarded by specialists as one of the top four jazz players of the world, won the Grammy in the category of Best Latin Jazz Album. He shared the award with his father, Bebo Valdes, with the album Juntos Para Siempre (Together Forever). Father and son, both Cuban piano virtuosos and exceptionally talented composers got together to record this example of their musical greatness after their tour “Juntos para siempre” in Spain.

Mongo Santamaria Y Su Orquesta - Sabroso! (1960) {Fantasy OJCCD-281-2 rel 1993}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 262 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 101 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 23 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1960, 1993 Fantasy, Inc. | OJCCD-281-2
Jazz / Latin Jazz / Charanga / Afro-Cuban Jazz / Boogaloo / Congas

At the time that Sabroso was recorded, Mongo Santamaria's group was essentially a charanga band with two trumpets added, a combination that works quite well. The group has superior playing by Jose "Chombo" Silva on both violin and tenor (helping "Para Ti" to become a classic), two little-known but talented trumpeters (Louis Valizan and Marcus Cabuto), the great flutist Rolando Lozano, pianist Rene Hernandez, bassist Victor Venegas, and Willie Bobo on drums. Pete Escovedo is one of the background singers as Rudi Calzado takes the lead on a few numbers but does not dominate. There are many fine individual moments on this joyous and infectious set.