Customer Reviews

Guasabara (W/Dvd)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is one of the most impressive recordings to hit the market in quite some time. To those of you that buy the hype that "salsa" is dead, think again. What you get is fourteen tracks of pure unadulterated "salsa" in a big band setting unlike any before. There's also a video documenting the making of the recording. This is truely a gem of a recording which I'm sure will captivate the listener and have you moving like never before.

What's funny about the cover, is that the caricature that is supposed to be of Jose Lugo doesn't actually look like him.

I must admit that I am not really a big fan of this format, yet I cannot deny the high musicianship and attention to detail paid in this recording. The saxophones play flawlessly and take it into jazz territory at times. Some of the mambos, using trumpets, saxophones, and trombones are very good. But there is nothing original about it. This is a safe sound, more about re-creating the old sound of big bands that were prevalent in the fifties, though a bit modernized.

On the bonus tracks, it's another story. El Francotirador is an explosive track, about as close to a timba as I've heard any Puertorican salsa come to, and Alla y Aca is an almost nine minute long afro-rumba.

This is a great compilation of artist ranging from El "Cano" Estremeras to Gilberto Santarosa and many others. The arrangements and the brass section are excellent and the variety in one CD is amazing. It's Salsa with kind of a big band and a symphonic touch to it, very rich in melody and not a boring Salsa CD like the ones that has been coming out lately. Definitivamente no mas de lo mismo esto si que es un arroz con gandules, lechon, pasteles, unos cuantos "libers", un poco de arroz con leche y otro poco de ron cañita por el 'lau. Just buy it and you'll see... if you don't like it then I think that you have a major problem, because my cousin is a musician and he bores the hell out of me with salsa. It is salsa in the car, salsa in the computer, salsa videos, and salsa everywhere, and trust me it gets annoying from time to time, but I really liked this CD so much that I even bought it for him.

This is a must have! for all the lovers of the quintessential "salsa brava" sound, for people looking for a record to dance to or to simply listen, this record has it all: creative big band arrangements, heavily swinging tracks, and a couple of miniature gems (MB and Puchi) with voice leading reminiscent of arranger/composer greats Clare Fisher or Thad Jones.

Favorites of mine are the version of "El Muñeco" with Cano Estremera and a stunning rendition on "Alivia mis Penas" by Herman Olivera...

I wait anxiously for more releases from pianist/composer/arranger Jose Lugo, who obviously has a great ear for quality in music... Bravo!