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OYE…Salsa De La Bahia: Volume 1, Michele Rosewoman: New Yor-Uba

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You want Afro-Cuban music? We’ve got it in abundance here on a pair of 2 cd sets that will get you sweating up a fever in no time!

First question-when is Volume 2 coming out?!? This two cd set collections some of the hottest salsa , dance and latin jazz sounds that reverberate through the SF Bay Area. The area has always had a feel for this genre, dating back to the days of Cal Tjader, but here we get a bucket load of different variations of a DANCE ALL NIGHT theme. Various bands you’ve never heard of: Estrellas De La Bahia, Avance, John Calloway, Vission Latina and The John Santos Sexet. It doesn’t matter-just consider this an invitation to go see them live or dig for their own releases. Classic Latin Jazz is served on a hot plate on “Lou’s Afro-Cuban Blues” and “Yo Vine A Bailar La Salsa.” Elsewhere, wonderful singing and choruses with percussion bouncing off the walls are found on “Café Con Leche” and “Canto, Clave Y Candela” . Wonderful flutes float along the horizon on “Velero Sin Timon” and “Montuno Pa La Flauta,” while a hip Harmon muted trumpet slides through “Tumba Randy.” There’s so much hand percussion flying around on all of these sessions that someone’s going to be needing to soak their fingers in Epsom salts for a good three weeks. What a party!!!

Pianist/arranger/vocalist Michele Rosewoman taps into the roots of the music of Cuban music that originated from the Yoruba people of Nigeria, delivering a bonafide link to what we now call “Afro-Cuban” music.  The 14 songs on these two discs features the lead vocals of Pedrito Martinez along with gobs of percussionists as well as rhythm members Yunio Terry/b, Adam Cruz/dr and horn players Freddie Hendrix/tp-fh, Oliver Lake/reeds, Mike Lee/ts-fl, Vincent Gardner/tb and Howard Johnson/bs-tuba. All of the songs are overflowing with exciting hand percussion with Martinez’s vocals either going it alone as on “Divne Passage” or with a choir as on “Earth Secrets.” Surprises are always around the musical corner, with the 12 minute “Natural Light” mixing driving percussion with graceful piano, or a Monkish “Warrior” changing directions and intervals. Hendrix’s horn is embracing on  “Perdon” while the flute and piano enliven the quirky “Where Water Meets Sky.”  A thrilling trip!Advance Dance Disques
 

 

 

Patois Records

 

www.patoisrecords.com

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