Customer Reviews

Palo Congo

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

 

 

The following words are coming the heart from of a cuban-american who is a true fanatic of his ancesters music. I am a lover of afro-cuban music, specially the style use in the afican cuban religions. This cd combines the afro conga sounds with the modern music of the Cuba of the 50's. It also has a good blend of perfect sonero style voices.

The sound is incredible crisp, clear and detailed for a cut that was produced 44 years ago.

This cd was pulled from the shelves (due to lack of sales)when originally released in 1957. But, I guess that good things never die because it was succesfully re-release over 30 years later.This is truly a perfrct mix.

While it's not listed as such, this is an Arsenio Rodriguez recording. One of the gread popular guitarists of the twentieth century, and the innovative bandleader who changed the face of and modernized Cuban son, Rodriguez is best known for his recordings from the 40s that have been repressed by Tumbao Records. This recording is much better produced; the sound is exceedingly clear, and Rodriguez' solos show the why of his legendary reputation. Just listen to his blistering and out of this world lead on Rhapsodia del Maravilloso (Rhapsody of the Marvelous, a send up of the Cuban standard, Manicero. It's worth the price of this low-priced Rodriguez recording.

Jazz percussionist Sabu Martinez went back to basics in this improvisational exploration of the Afro-Cuban drumming. Along with him is Cuban "son" legend Arsenio Rodriguez, one of the most fiery Cuban player of the 1940s and '50s. You have to come at this album from a Afro-Cuban standpoint, rather than from the jazz camp... If you see it as a traditional record, that's when you'll be able to hear the energy and innovation.

Just picked up this album yesterday, and it is superlative on so many levels. The only improvement I could see would be Eugenio Arango taking on the singing duties. If you have even a passing interest in percussion, Latin music, the tres, or simply music, there is no reason not to pick this up at the first opportunity.

While it doesn't quite reach the perfection of 'Patato y Totico' (nothing, in my experience, does) there are two elements that are better: an Arsenio Rodriguez on fire & MORE Arsenio. The reviewer above who stated that this is an Arsenio Rodriguez album is on point. The tres playing on Choferito-Plena (track 3) is as blistering as you're ever likely to hear.

Arsenio's genius combined with heavily animated conga playing, chanting and singing makes for an album that hits every sweet spot in my musical aesthetic. If you're the type that loves the strings and percussion in 'Latin jazz' but wish they'd dispense with predictable arrangements while playing more raw, this is one of the biggest no-brainers you'll ever have. The samples say enough, really.

How we will know were we are going? If we don't know were we come from this is pure afro caribbean culture. Wake up people! Perfect for collectionists. Que viva el Caribe Negro.

Balongo63

Whether you are hispanic or not, this is an excellent album to have if you like latin sounds filled with rythmic drums and guitars. Sends me back to my childhood years growing up "en el monte", where we only had the radio and the record player to listen too.
JEC

Not bad for a Spanish Harlem boy from the corner of 111th, who spent his youth banging tin cans, then split the US for, of all places, Sweden, then ended up ditching music to run a strip joint and then die while working on some travesty of a project for Richard Boone. That's just a history lesson. Honestly, you can hear much BETTER Sabu Martinez playing on some other Blue Note records, where he appears as a side-man, such as J.J. Johnson's lp's. This...it just gets a little tired, very quickly. It's noticeable and rather sad.

At any rate back to the disc at hand, it's very much in the tradition of conga that was popular at the time of this recording. But, there are far, far, far superior recordings available that deserve your fanbase and $$, rather than this. Pick up anything by Patato or Candido, or even Francisco Aguabella. It will be money better spent. All in all, to be a bit more accurate, I'd probably give this a 1.5 to 2 stars.