Manteca

Red Garland, Ray Barretto | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 1, 1991)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Ojc
• ASIN: B000000YNN
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #122,334 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Jazz conga quartet?, July 18, 2001

By 

Music lover (Burnsville, MN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Manteca (Audio CD)

On "Manteca", we find a traditional trio comprised of Red Garland on piano, Paul Chambers on bass and Arthur Taylor on drums, then add Ray Barretto on congas. Does the conga rhythm work with the trio? You'll have to be the judge of that.

With two percussionists on this CD, there are some lively solos (some extended) with Taylor and Baretto trading off on "Manteca", "Lady Be Good", and "Exactly Like You". At times, the conga does add an interesting element to these, as well as the other numbers. At other times, the conga rhythm/beat seems a bit repetitive and a little distracting. It's more a matter of personal taste than a reflection on the musicians as they are all clearly talented.

Each member of of this quartet gets ample solo time to show off their stuff. Red Garland, who served as a sideman for the Miles Davis Quintet, provides a solid performance whether he's carrying the melody or improvising during his solos and accompaniment. Paul Chambers, another Davis Quintet alumni, serves up fine performances as well and even has a bowed solo in "S'Wonderful".

Overall, it's an interesting experiment with an unusual combination that works for me on certain levels, but not on others. For those who are new to Red Garland, or expanding their RG collection, I would first suggest checking out the titles "Red Garland's Piano", "All Kinds of Weather", or "A Garland Of Red".

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent slight variation, September 2, 2006

By 

Jazzcat "stef" (Genoa, Italy Italy) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Manteca (Audio CD)

If you think that Red Garland has been accused of cocktail mannerisms by some (stupid?) critics, you find yourself thinking about the justice in this world. Very few pianists even nowadays could reach Red's perfection this is for sure. Red Garland to me is one of the greatest piano players in the history of jazz music. Period. His albums are paradigmatical Jazz played at the highest level. He simply was perfection in Jazz piano. He had swing, melody, taste, comp abilities, flashy chops, bop techniques all at his command. How could we call him a cocktail pianist?!?! In this album he proved his marvellous playing once again. The line up is the common Garland trio with Paul Chambers and Arthur Taylor responsible with Red of a long list of splendid albums recorded for Prestige during the fifties - early sixties. In this case we find Ray Barretto on the congas too. And the alchemy works. Ray simply reinforce the beat on two and four. Don't think of this album as a "latin" album as the booklet rightly explain. This is pure Jazz the bebop way. The only "pure latin" tune is the wonderful Manteca, played with congas since ever, so Ray is even more in place here. A perfect gem is the closing number, the ballad "Portrait of Jenny". But even in the other standard tunes (plus a long slow blues, Mort's Report) Ray simply reinforce the swing feel (emphasizing the second and fourth beats of the bar as I already told you) and does not ruin anything of this trio's magic. On the contrary he adds a little rythmic spice that in this album is enjoyable. It is a little detour from the common sound of this perfect, perfect, ... perfect trio.

5.0 out of 5 stars Latin Jazz before it was known as Latin Jazz., October 1, 2011

By 

Justo Roteta (Los Angeles, California United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Manteca (Audio CD)

This album is rightly viewed by many as one in which the seeds of what would ultimately become known as Latin Jazz were planted. Ray Barretto's Conga playing is truly on-point and (with the wisdom of hindsight) it all foreshadows what Ray would accomplish on his Latin Jazz albums of the 1990s. If you are not an instrumental Latin Jazz fan, know that this will probably be an acquired taste...but you'll probably enjoy it after you're really acquainted with it. In any case, what this classic album really proves when all is said and done is that Salsa, Latin Jazz and traditional American Jazz are all parts of the same beast, so to speak. Enjoy!