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Posts Tagged ‘cuba’
Music review: Chico O’Farrill: Heart of a Legend
October 6th, 2008 | 
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My favorite record lately is ‘Heart of a Legend’ by Chico O’Farrill, published in 1999 on the Milestone label. I played it constantly last week. O’Farrill is one of the most interesting names in Latin jazz music, and this record has an overall excellent quality of tracks, with ‘Trumpet fantasy’ and ‘Sing your Blues away’ as highlights. I am seriously in love with Latin jazz lately and O’Farrill plays in a variety of styles: he combines a big band sound with improvisation and free jazz, and the result is unique and a pleasure to listen to. Maybe this is my all-time favourite Latin jazz record, I am not sure.
The funny thing is, O’Farrill was the major influence of one of my other favorites, Cal Tjader. It’s a pity that many of O’Farrill’s recordings are out of print, but this record offers some good highlights for those unfamiliar with his work.
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Old and new Cuban music and jazz
At the moment I am busy collecting old and new Carribian and especially Cuban music through the internet. People often know only the stuff Ry Cooder brought into the light which is a pity because that is just the tip of the iceberg. Cuba has a long jazz, bigband and latin tradition with plenty of brilliant artists. Here are some records I have listened to this week:
This record is from 1995, predating the Cooder hype. It’s a very good record with very soulful music, quite simular to the Cooder sound. Best song for me is ‘Borombon’ which has a great Bigband sound and a very good instrumental interlude.
This is one of my favorite Cuban records. It’s a collection of music from the older orchestras. Orquesta Aragon, one of the most legendary Cha Cha Cha ensembles, with a typical ‘big brass’ sound – really wonderful! Chepin and his Oriental Orchestra is another must have. ‘Son Mis Bodas Di Oro’, the opening song, is fantastic.
It’s a record from 1994 but most music on it was made in the 70′s. Very mellow and creative latin american jazz, with swinging and slowdancing songs on it. Tjader was the master of the Virbraphone. Almost all songs are domatinated by that instrument but boy, he knew how to play it really well.
Vicentico Valdes is not too well known but beats me why, because he was a fantastic singer and musician. This record is from 2003 and is a great collection of songs. ‘Obsesion’ is probably my favorite song – this record is a must have for people who love the ‘old’ cuban sound.
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