Candela x

With her powerful pipes, stunning showmanship, and superhuman sense of timing, Celia Cruz defined her chosen genre like few other performers in the history of popular music. EXITOS ETERNOS is a collection of tracks the "Queen of Salsa" recorded during the last decade of her life that, despite the vocalist's advanced age, clearly show Cruz's talents never wavered. Known for her uncompromising attitude and refusal to sing in English, Cruz valued aesthetic purity, but never became a museum piece. A driving pulse and rhythmic toasting that recall dancehall reggae propel her 2001 hit "La Negra Tiene Tumbao," and other tracks feature subtle synthesizer textures. Unlike lesser artists, however, Cruz is able to incorporate these disparate sonic colors seamlessly, making them sound as traditional as a conga drum or guiro. Of course, the unrelenting force behind each recording is Cruz's astounding voice, the sheer energy of which makes even these later recordings sound both classic and utterly contemporary.

Mongo Santamaria - Mongo At Montreux (1971) {2012 Japan Jazz Best Collection 1000 Series 24bit Remaster WPCR-27188}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 253 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 88 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 212 Mb | 5% repair rar | 24-bit remaster
© 1971, 2012 Atlantic / Warner Japan / WEA / Rhino | WPCR-27188 | Jazz Best Collection 1000 Series
Jazz / Afro-Cuban Jazz / Latin Jazz / Percussion

Features 24 bit remastering and comes with a mini-description. Recorded live at the 1971 Montreux Jazz Festival, the blistering Mongo at Montreux captures Mongo Santamaria in the absolute prime of his career, embracing all facets of his expansive musical vision for a set that is far more than the sum of its parts. Spanning from soulful Latin boogaloo grooves like "Come Candela" to psychedelic jazz renditions of pop hits like the Temptations' "Cloud Nine" to straight-up funk excursions like "Climax," Mongo at Montreux is relentlessly energetic music genetically engineered for dancing – most impressive of all is "Conversation in Drums," a virtual primer in Latin percussion.

Eddie Palmieri & Cal Tjader - Bamboleate (1967) {Fania Original Remastered rel 2007}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 179 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 79 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 68 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1967, 2007 Tico / Fania / Emusica Records | 773 130 217-2
Jazz / Latin Jazz / Afro-Cuban Jazz / Piano / Vibes

The second album pairing Palmieri and Tjader, Bamboleate moves beyond El Sonido Nuevo into the respective territories of each artist. "Bamboleate" is the Latin cooker ones expects from Palmieri but didn't find on the more subdued El Sonido Nuevo. "Semejanza" is an equally affecting jazz lilt led by Tjader. Framed by a melody that could have come straight off the Vince Guaraldi Trio's Charlie Brown Christmas album, it has an equally indelible, locomotive rhythm. Tjader's samba, "Samba de Los Suenho," is a welcome departure from the relative rigidity of El Sonido Nuevo.

Originally released in 1970 by little-known Chicago imprint Futuro, ‘Vamonos / Let’s Go!’ is the first and only album recorded by Brooklyn neighbourhood salsa band ‘The Orchestra Soledad’. Led by trombonist and singer Hector Ramos, the music of Orchestra Soledad is characterised by brash and energetic salsa arrangements created by Ramos himself, who also composed (or co-composed) all of the music featured on the LP.

If you wonder (a) why Barretto suddenly has such a hot band, (b) what the two hokey Mexicali cuts are doing mixed in with all the other fine stuff, and © why there are zippo notes, one explanation fits all. This CD, copyright 1994, is a re-release of one of Barretto's long-lost 1960s United Artists recordings. But the music is terrific: a hell of a swing, great solo trumpet.