Music is so essential to the Cuban character that you can’t disentangle it from the history of the nation. the history of Cuban music is one of cultural collisions, of voluntary and forced migrations, of religions and revolutions. – Ned Sublette’s Cuba and Its Music: From the First Drums to the Mambo
I smelled something nicely enticing in the hallway out of our Kitchen. So I handed Pub duties over to Finch and got myself down there for the eventide meal, which was lamb kebabs seasoned with fennel, cumin, garlic and chili. According to Gus, our Groundskeeper who does oh so much more than that essential work, It turned out that we just slaughtered several lambs. The kebabs were served up with basmanti rice, steamed veggies and the best yeasted whole wheat rolls I’ve had.
We had ice cream for desert: a cardamom and ginger one, another intensely dark chocolate and peanut in nature and a strawberry one with some berries of the summer season. I sampled all three and can say that Mrs. Ware and her ever so talented Kitchen staff outdid themselves!
So let’s head over to my work table where my iPad is and see what we’ve got for you this evening.
Gary offers us up a fine selection of J.R.R. Tolkien non-fiction material this time.
Asher took an in-depth tour of Tolkien’s The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red Book. The author, he says, spoke of Bombadil in two ways: ‘On the one hand, he has called Bombadil both the spirit of the dwindling English countryside and the spirit of natural science: “the spirit that desires knowledge of other things, their history and nature, because they are ‘other’.” On the other hand, he has suggested that the reason he couldn’t bring himself to keep Bombadil out of The Lord of the Rings is that he represents something larger, something best not left out, though he hesitated to look too closely at what that was. One can surmise that this is true both of Tom as he appears in the Ring saga and also as he appears in the Adventures.’
‘Every Christmas between the years 1920 and 1943, the ever-so-blessed children of J.R.R. Tolkien received some of the most unique mail that a child could ever hope for: letters from Father Christmas himself!’ says Cat in his splendid review of Letters From Father Christmas — both the book itself and a readers theater style performance of them at his local bookstore. ‘Beautifully illustrated and delivered in various ways, they told of all kinds of things that happened at the North Pole, and about the folk who lived there with Santa.’
And Craig reviewed the audio version of Tolkien’s Letters from Father Christmas audio, read by Derek Jacobi. ‘For those who may not be familiar with his work, I’ll simply say that you are in for a treat. Jacobi was the perfect choice for this reading. Not only has he read other Tolkien works but his voice resembles that of a kindly grandfather, ideal for the character of Father Christmas.’
Grey wrote an admiring review of J.E.A. Tyler’s The Complete Tolkien Companion, which she said is an invaluable reference. ‘Tyler is an author and journalist who is, in my opinion, one of the best authors of general “Tolkien guides” available today. While his scholarship may not be as extensive as that of some other authors, he has the ability to see the entire legendarium and its interlinking components, and to lay out and cross-reference those components with an understanding and clearness of text that makes his work easily accessible to readers, from the Tolkien neophyte to the Tolkien scholar. If you only have one reference book on Tolkien on your shelf, it ought to be this one.
Jack bestirred himself to read and review J.R.R. Tolkien’s Beowulf and the Critics, a collection of different versions of a lecture by Tolkien on the ancient Anglo-Saxon epic. He recommends it, with a caveat. ‘Just keep in mind that our dear don was writing a treatise on Beowulf that takes into account the entire thousand-year history of that ballad as a cultural object. Bloody Hell! He does a rather neat job in some forty-five or so pages of giving you everything, and I mean everything, you’ll ever need to know ’bout Beowulf. Just drink lots of very strong coffee before reading it – you’ll need the caffeine!’
‘Tolkien lived in that long-vanished era when letter writing was an intrinsic part of daily social and business activity,’ Jack says in his review of, what else, The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien. ‘There were few phones, obviously no e-mail, and telegrams were used only for very urgent business. (He did use airgraphs, a special postal service to reduce the mail volume, for letters to Christopher and the like.) But the proper gentleman or gentlewoman wrote letters — lots of letters! And Tolkien was, like the hobbits he created, a perfect English gentleman.’
He also reviewed and contrasted a couple of reference books aimed more at a general audience, Robert Foster and the Brothers Hildebrandt’s Tolkien’s World from A to Z: The Complete Guide to Middle-Earth, and J.E.A. Tyler and Kevin Really’s The Tolkien Companion. He definitely prefers the latter. ‘ Tyler rightfully assumes that one has either The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings in hand and is simply seeking more information. And information is what you get in The Tolkien Companion — a generous serving of lovingly detailed material that will enhance your understanding of these books every bit as much as The Annotated Hobbit will do. Tolkien’s World from A to Z just can’t compare to it!
Kathleen reviewed her copy of Tolkien’s Smith of Wooten Major & Farmer Giles of Ham that she first read when she was 13, a time when many readers of her generation were disappointed by them. ‘They aren’t epic, or sweeping, and there are no elves, hobbits or dwarves in them. That’s been a problem with a lot of Tolkien’s non-LOTR over the years, and not even the elf-centric The Silmarillion pleased most of his audience. But dismissing Smith and Farmer Giles is as much a loss to a reader as is ignoring the appendices of LOTR itself.’
Lisa reviewed a fairly obscure Tolkien text, Narn I Chîn Húrin, or The Tale of the Children of Húrin, which takes place many thousands of years before the bits we’re all more familiar with. ‘There are the usual things one expects in Tolkien’s mythic prose; it’s archaic but less like the King James Bible than some of his work, and a bit more like Norse saga. That said, there are influence and motifs from Siegfried and Norse saga, and the Finnish tale of Kullervo in the Kalevala. There’s a bit of medieval Irish too, in terms of the effects of the curse; it’s reminiscent of geasa like the one Macha put on the men of Ulster. But for all its archaism and tragic mythos, The Children of Húrinis extremely readable, and a very well made book.’
Liz wrote a monster review of the 2003 HarperCollins five-volume edition of Tolkien’s The History of Middle-Earth. The history was an immense undertaking for all involved, and the review was likewise. ‘At his death, J.R.R. Tolkien left a huge body of unfinished and often unorganized writings on the mythology and history of Middle-earth. In The History of Middle Earth (HoME), his son, Christopher, has sought to organize this huge collection of drafts, revisions and reworkings into an organized and intelligible whole.’
Liz also reviewed some collected essays and lectures of Tolkien’s, published as The Monsters and the Critics, which Jack also touched on at some length in his review of Beowulf and the Critics (see above). ‘These seven essays provide a glimpse into Tolkien’s intent as a scholar, translator of texts, and novelist. Just as Sir Gawain’s shield device, the pentangle, gave graphic evidence of how Gawain’s virtues were inextricably linked, this book shows how Tolkien’s interests in philology (i.e., historical linguistics) and the art of fantastic fiction were bound together, each giving life to the other.’
Matthew was impressed all around by the audiobook of Tolkien’s translation of “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” as read by Terry Jones (yes, that Terry Jones). ‘One of Tolkien’s first scholarly works was a modern English translation of the 14th century alliterative poem “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.” Although there have been a handful of translations since, Tolkien’s stands out as accomplishing a two-fold mission that few others have achieved. He brings the poem into the modern idiom in a way that is readable, but he also retains the alliterative metric structure that the anonymous Gawain poet was trying to revive.’
Matthew also reviewed a helpful reference book, Christopher Tolkien’s The History of Middle-earth Index, which gathers the indexes from all 12 volumes of The History of Middle Earth into one volume. ‘The Index contains every entry from the separate indexes of the History, as well as Christopher Tolkien’s explanatory text that prefaces each separate index. However, instead of gathering all the references to a particular name under one heading, Tolkien has chosen to keep the entries separate. Thus, we have a separate heading for Beren’s appearances in the first volume, followed by an entry for Beren’s appearances in the second volume, etc.’
Warner reviewed the award winning book by academic Holly Ordway, Tolkien’s Modern Readings, in which Ordway lays to rest the notion that all Tolkien read was medieval literature. ‘It is a fascinating volume at times, veering from works still known to current readers all the way to quiet, esoteric works that have largely passed into oblivion. The book focuses on works likely to have influenced the creation of middle earth related works (specifically The Hobbit, Lord of The Rings, and the Silmarillion) and proving Tolkien read them.’
Gary loves cookies, so he was eager to try Trader Joe’s Chocolate & Peanut Butter Joe-Joe’s sandwich cookies. His verdict? ‘They’re tasty and definitely satisfy your sweet tooth. I don’t think they need to be as sugary as they are, but then I’m not the one making gazillions of dollars selling high-end snacks to the bougies, so what do I know?
David enthusiastically reviewed a film that followed the ups and downs of a Cuban band over the decades. ‘Los Zafiros was filmed beautifully by Thomas Ackerman, the island of Cuba providing a perfect setting for the cinematographer’s art. Producer and director Lorenzo DeStefano did a marvelous job in balancing the archival with the new, and the whole team has created a stunning work of art.
Big Earl kicks off our special Cuban jazz archival edition with the Cuban-adjacent Sangre Negra by Orlando Poleo. ‘Hailing from Venezuela, Orlando Poleo is one of the artists at the forefront of World Jazz in Europe. This is not the type of Afro-Jazz of Tito Puente, nor that of Hugh Masakela, but a super smooth, very modern blast of South American rhythms mixing with a medium-sized horn ensemble and piano. It’s a very cool blend, sounding Caribbean enough to sate the current Cuban Jazz craze, and yet poppy enough to appeal to both the “cocktail” jazz and world music novice.’
Next he reviewed Viva Mindelo’s Fantcha. ‘Fantcha is very much in the “torch” mode of Cuban music: the sort of musical style designed to appeal to gringo tourists. Very influenced by the big band style of the 1940s American scene, this disc is heavy on orchestrations, aching melodies, and soft samba tempos. Mindello has a decent voice, not very broad in range, but perfect for this type of music. Her voice is drenched with emotion, like on the slow “Amiga,” where you can hear her on the edge of tears.’
He was less than blown away by Vieja Trova Santiaguera’s Pura Trova. ‘More or less a put-together group, VTS features artists in their sixties and seventies playing the traditional folk forms from Cuba. Assembled in the early 1990s to perform in Spain, the group has carried on intermittently, producing some fine renditions of some of the greatest music forms the Caribbean has to offer.’
David, who was the longtime editor of Rylander, a newsletter dedicated to the music of Ry Cooder, wrote evocatively about Ry’s outing with Manuel Galban, Mambo Sinuendo. ‘What’s it sound like? It’s the kind of music you might hear on Mars! At the beach! It evokes images of girls in bikinis drinking exotic concoctions with umbrellas and straws, men in straw hats, bright colors, the sun, the heat, but no sweat. It sounds like it was recorded in a big empty room. There is a spacey yet rich sonic quality about the whole record.’
David liked a couple of releases from Switzerland’s RealRhythm Records, Conjunto Casino’s Montuno en Neptuno #960, and Julio Padron Y Los Amigos De Sta. Amalia’s Descarga Santa. Of the former, he said, ‘Unlike the Buena Vista bands which are heavily guitar based, Conjunto Casino is a brass band, with no strings. Trumpets, trombones and a strong piano, with loads of percussion is the sound of the day here. If you can keep your feet still while this album is playing … you’d better check your pulse.’
Gary reviewed three discs — Ay, Candela, A la Casa de la Trova, and Sentimiento — by three BVSC stars. ‘Ibrahim Ferrer, Eliades Ochoa and Omara Portuondo were three of the main participants in 1996’s groundbreaking, multi-platinum Buena Vista Social Club recording that returned Cuban jazz to the world stage. The Cuban state recording company EGREM, through its New York-based Escondida label, has begun re-releasing tracks by these three and other Cuban artists, which laid the groundwork for the explosion that followed Buena Vista.’
‘Santeros y Salseros is the perfect primer for anyone interested in the various threads that make up modern Cuban music,’ Gary said of one of the four discs he reviewed in another Cuban music omni. Read the review to see what he thought of the whole batch.
‘Does the world really need yet another “various artists” collection of Cuban music?’ That’s what Gary wondered when he picked up the Rough Guide to the Cuban Music Story. He answered in the affirmative. ‘The Cuban Music Story sings, it swings, it sways and it even rocks.’
He also liked The Rough Guide to Cuban Son. ‘The documentation and artwork are professional and well written, adding greatly to the listener’s appreciation. The music lasts a full 71 minutes, giving great value for the money and a wide range of acts.’
He also reviews Guajira mas Guajira, an album of genre-skipping music by two of the top names in Cuban music, Eliades and Maria Ochoa. Eliades was a key player in the world-famous Buena Vista Social Club and has been a member of Cuarteto Patria for many years. Maria is a member of Alma Latina (“Latin soul”) and has sung with a host of Cuban acts. Together, Gary says, they make beautiful music.
‘With superb music recorded from 1955 to 1990, Guantanamera is a thoroughly enjoyable overview of 20th Century Cuban music,’ Gary says of one of the five additional releases from Escondida that he reviewed in an omni, which also includes career overviews of the music of Benny Moré, Juan Formell y los Van Van, Irakere, and Chucho Valdes.
Of another disc, he said, ‘I can’t speak highly enough of Pancho Amat’s De San Antonio a Maisí, an absolutely delightful collection of traditional and contemporary son by today’s living master of the tres.’
He also enjoyed Absolutely Live II by Juan de Marcos’ Afro-Cuban All Stars. ‘Juan de Marcos founded the Afro-Cuban All Stars to tour North America and Europe with the music of the Buena Vista Social Club in 1997. It has continued as one of the world’s top purveyors of the Cuban music known as son, a catchy, folk-based music that combines Afro-Cuban clave with American jazz idioms.’
‘Alex Chadsey, Farko Dosumov and Jeff Busch live in Seattle, where they make music. Solid, groove-filled Cuban jazz, to be precise,’ he said of the trio Duende Libre. He reviewed both their self-titled debut and their sophomore release Drift.
Daymé Arocena makes an infectious blend of danceable Latin music on her sophomore release Cubafonía, Gary noted. ‘The whole album pulls from Cuba’s rich musical legacy. Daymé sings mostly in Spanish, but drops effortlessly into a fluent English and even occasionally into a bit of French.’
Mike found the whole package of Puentes Brothers’ Morumba Cubana very appealing. ‘Morumba Cubana derives its heart and soul from the Puentes brothers, but the back-up talent really gets the numbers down, whether they’re playing something from a street corner in Havana to a bewitching passage straight from a village in the hills to a commercial airplay-ready tune. The liner-notes guide the listener through the various Latin forms (samba, rumba, etc.), and the English translations of the lyrics are quite imaginative.’
Richard Condon did a deep dive into three discs of Cuban jazz: Paquito d’Rivera’s Big Band Time, Elio Villafranca’s Encantaciones, and various artists’ The Rough Guide To Latin Jazz. He particularly enjoyed the former. ‘The classically trained Paquito d’Rivera, who hails from Havana, has played with Dizzy Gillespie and numerous other eminences of the U.S. modern jazz scene. Although he doubles on saxophone, he is a virtuoso of the clarinet, not a very common instrument in Latin jazz, and his style sometimes echoes the clarinettists of the swing era such as Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw, in whose music he is unquestionably steeped.’
Richard Dansky gave a positive review to the Scottish Cuban band La Sonera Calaveras’ Numero Uno! ‘Fans of the genre will be pleased by the straightforward and unpretentious production values on the album, which spares us any attempts at fusion or electronic experimentation in favour of a classic and sincere expression of (mostly) pure son.’
To close things out, here’s a sample from the sadly out of print various artists’ compilation Guantanamera that Gary reviews above. Enjoy the charming big band conjunto of Beny Moré and his orchestra’s Santa Isabel De Las Lajas.
I'm the Pub Manager for the Green Man Pub which is located at the KInrowan Estate. I'm married to Ingrid, our Steward who's also the Estate Buyer. If I'm off duty and in a mood for a drink, it'll be a single malt, either Irish or Scottish, no water or ice, or possibly an Estate ale or cider.
I'm a concertina player, and unlike my wife who has a fine singing voice, I do not have anything of a singing voice anyone want to hear!
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What’s New for the 4th of August: A raft of Cuban music reviews; Trader Joe’s chocolate peanut butter cookies; Looking at J.R.R. Tolkien; And a Cuban band documentary
I smelled something nicely enticing in the hallway out of our Kitchen. So I handed Pub duties over to Finch and got myself down there for the eventide meal, which was lamb kebabs seasoned with fennel, cumin, garlic and chili. According to Gus, our Groundskeeper who does oh so much more than that essential work, It turned out that we just slaughtered several lambs. The kebabs were served up with basmanti rice, steamed veggies and the best yeasted whole wheat rolls I’ve had.
We had ice cream for desert: a cardamom and ginger one, another intensely dark chocolate and peanut in nature and a strawberry one with some berries of the summer season. I sampled all three and can say that Mrs. Ware and her ever so talented Kitchen staff outdid themselves!
So let’s head over to my work table where my iPad is and see what we’ve got for you this evening.
Gary offers us up a fine selection of J.R.R. Tolkien non-fiction material this time.
Asher took an in-depth tour of Tolkien’s The Adventures of Tom Bombadil and Other Verses from the Red Book. The author, he says, spoke of Bombadil in two ways: ‘On the one hand, he has called Bombadil both the spirit of the dwindling English countryside and the spirit of natural science: “the spirit that desires knowledge of other things, their history and nature, because they are ‘other’.” On the other hand, he has suggested that the reason he couldn’t bring himself to keep Bombadil out of The Lord of the Rings is that he represents something larger, something best not left out, though he hesitated to look too closely at what that was. One can surmise that this is true both of Tom as he appears in the Ring saga and also as he appears in the Adventures.’
‘Every Christmas between the years 1920 and 1943, the ever-so-blessed children of J.R.R. Tolkien received some of the most unique mail that a child could ever hope for: letters from Father Christmas himself!’ says Cat in his splendid review of Letters From Father Christmas — both the book itself and a readers theater style performance of them at his local bookstore. ‘Beautifully illustrated and delivered in various ways, they told of all kinds of things that happened at the North Pole, and about the folk who lived there with Santa.’
And Craig reviewed the audio version of Tolkien’s Letters from Father Christmas audio, read by Derek Jacobi. ‘For those who may not be familiar with his work, I’ll simply say that you are in for a treat. Jacobi was the perfect choice for this reading. Not only has he read other Tolkien works but his voice resembles that of a kindly grandfather, ideal for the character of Father Christmas.’
Grey wrote an admiring review of J.E.A. Tyler’s The Complete Tolkien Companion, which she said is an invaluable reference. ‘Tyler is an author and journalist who is, in my opinion, one of the best authors of general “Tolkien guides” available today. While his scholarship may not be as extensive as that of some other authors, he has the ability to see the entire legendarium and its interlinking components, and to lay out and cross-reference those components with an understanding and clearness of text that makes his work easily accessible to readers, from the Tolkien neophyte to the Tolkien scholar. If you only have one reference book on Tolkien on your shelf, it ought to be this one.
Jack bestirred himself to read and review J.R.R. Tolkien’s Beowulf and the Critics, a collection of different versions of a lecture by Tolkien on the ancient Anglo-Saxon epic. He recommends it, with a caveat. ‘Just keep in mind that our dear don was writing a treatise on Beowulf that takes into account the entire thousand-year history of that ballad as a cultural object. Bloody Hell! He does a rather neat job in some forty-five or so pages of giving you everything, and I mean everything, you’ll ever need to know ’bout Beowulf. Just drink lots of very strong coffee before reading it – you’ll need the caffeine!’
‘Tolkien lived in that long-vanished era when letter writing was an intrinsic part of daily social and business activity,’ Jack says in his review of, what else, The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien. ‘There were few phones, obviously no e-mail, and telegrams were used only for very urgent business. (He did use airgraphs, a special postal service to reduce the mail volume, for letters to Christopher and the like.) But the proper gentleman or gentlewoman wrote letters — lots of letters! And Tolkien was, like the hobbits he created, a perfect English gentleman.’
He also reviewed and contrasted a couple of reference books aimed more at a general audience, Robert Foster and the Brothers Hildebrandt’s Tolkien’s World from A to Z: The Complete Guide to Middle-Earth, and J.E.A. Tyler and Kevin Really’s The Tolkien Companion. He definitely prefers the latter. ‘ Tyler rightfully assumes that one has either The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings in hand and is simply seeking more information. And information is what you get in The Tolkien Companion — a generous serving of lovingly detailed material that will enhance your understanding of these books every bit as much as The Annotated Hobbit will do. Tolkien’s World from A to Z just can’t compare to it!
Kathleen reviewed her copy of Tolkien’s Smith of Wooten Major & Farmer Giles of Ham that she first read when she was 13, a time when many readers of her generation were disappointed by them. ‘They aren’t epic, or sweeping, and there are no elves, hobbits or dwarves in them. That’s been a problem with a lot of Tolkien’s non-LOTR over the years, and not even the elf-centric The Silmarillion pleased most of his audience. But dismissing Smith and Farmer Giles is as much a loss to a reader as is ignoring the appendices of LOTR itself.’
Lisa reviewed a fairly obscure Tolkien text, Narn I Chîn Húrin, or The Tale of the Children of Húrin, which takes place many thousands of years before the bits we’re all more familiar with. ‘There are the usual things one expects in Tolkien’s mythic prose; it’s archaic but less like the King James Bible than some of his work, and a bit more like Norse saga. That said, there are influence and motifs from Siegfried and Norse saga, and the Finnish tale of Kullervo in the Kalevala. There’s a bit of medieval Irish too, in terms of the effects of the curse; it’s reminiscent of geasa like the one Macha put on the men of Ulster. But for all its archaism and tragic mythos, The Children of Húrinis extremely readable, and a very well made book.’
Liz wrote a monster review of the 2003 HarperCollins five-volume edition of Tolkien’s The History of Middle-Earth. The history was an immense undertaking for all involved, and the review was likewise. ‘At his death, J.R.R. Tolkien left a huge body of unfinished and often unorganized writings on the mythology and history of Middle-earth. In The History of Middle Earth (HoME), his son, Christopher, has sought to organize this huge collection of drafts, revisions and reworkings into an organized and intelligible whole.’
Liz also reviewed some collected essays and lectures of Tolkien’s, published as The Monsters and the Critics, which Jack also touched on at some length in his review of Beowulf and the Critics (see above). ‘These seven essays provide a glimpse into Tolkien’s intent as a scholar, translator of texts, and novelist. Just as Sir Gawain’s shield device, the pentangle, gave graphic evidence of how Gawain’s virtues were inextricably linked, this book shows how Tolkien’s interests in philology (i.e., historical linguistics) and the art of fantastic fiction were bound together, each giving life to the other.’
Matthew was impressed all around by the audiobook of Tolkien’s translation of “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” as read by Terry Jones (yes, that Terry Jones). ‘One of Tolkien’s first scholarly works was a modern English translation of the 14th century alliterative poem “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.” Although there have been a handful of translations since, Tolkien’s stands out as accomplishing a two-fold mission that few others have achieved. He brings the poem into the modern idiom in a way that is readable, but he also retains the alliterative metric structure that the anonymous Gawain poet was trying to revive.’
Matthew also reviewed a helpful reference book, Christopher Tolkien’s The History of Middle-earth Index, which gathers the indexes from all 12 volumes of The History of Middle Earth into one volume. ‘The Index contains every entry from the separate indexes of the History, as well as Christopher Tolkien’s explanatory text that prefaces each separate index. However, instead of gathering all the references to a particular name under one heading, Tolkien has chosen to keep the entries separate. Thus, we have a separate heading for Beren’s appearances in the first volume, followed by an entry for Beren’s appearances in the second volume, etc.’
Warner reviewed the award winning book by academic Holly Ordway, Tolkien’s Modern Readings, in which Ordway lays to rest the notion that all Tolkien read was medieval literature. ‘It is a fascinating volume at times, veering from works still known to current readers all the way to quiet, esoteric works that have largely passed into oblivion. The book focuses on works likely to have influenced the creation of middle earth related works (specifically The Hobbit, Lord of The Rings, and the Silmarillion) and proving Tolkien read them.’
Gary loves cookies, so he was eager to try Trader Joe’s Chocolate & Peanut Butter Joe-Joe’s sandwich cookies. His verdict? ‘They’re tasty and definitely satisfy your sweet tooth. I don’t think they need to be as sugary as they are, but then I’m not the one making gazillions of dollars selling high-end snacks to the bougies, so what do I know?
Big Earl kicks off our special Cuban jazz archival edition with the Cuban-adjacent Sangre Negra by Orlando Poleo. ‘Hailing from Venezuela, Orlando Poleo is one of the artists at the forefront of World Jazz in Europe. This is not the type of Afro-Jazz of Tito Puente, nor that of Hugh Masakela, but a super smooth, very modern blast of South American rhythms mixing with a medium-sized horn ensemble and piano. It’s a very cool blend, sounding Caribbean enough to sate the current Cuban Jazz craze, and yet poppy enough to appeal to both the “cocktail” jazz and world music novice.’
Next he reviewed Viva Mindelo’s Fantcha. ‘Fantcha is very much in the “torch” mode of Cuban music: the sort of musical style designed to appeal to gringo tourists. Very influenced by the big band style of the 1940s American scene, this disc is heavy on orchestrations, aching melodies, and soft samba tempos. Mindello has a decent voice, not very broad in range, but perfect for this type of music. Her voice is drenched with emotion, like on the slow “Amiga,” where you can hear her on the edge of tears.’
He was less than blown away by Vieja Trova Santiaguera’s Pura Trova. ‘More or less a put-together group, VTS features artists in their sixties and seventies playing the traditional folk forms from Cuba. Assembled in the early 1990s to perform in Spain, the group has carried on intermittently, producing some fine renditions of some of the greatest music forms the Caribbean has to offer.’
David, who was the longtime editor of Rylander, a newsletter dedicated to the music of Ry Cooder, wrote evocatively about Ry’s outing with Manuel Galban, Mambo Sinuendo. ‘What’s it sound like? It’s the kind of music you might hear on Mars! At the beach! It evokes images of girls in bikinis drinking exotic concoctions with umbrellas and straws, men in straw hats, bright colors, the sun, the heat, but no sweat. It sounds like it was recorded in a big empty room. There is a spacey yet rich sonic quality about the whole record.’
David liked a couple of releases from Switzerland’s RealRhythm Records, Conjunto Casino’s Montuno en Neptuno #960, and Julio Padron Y Los Amigos De Sta. Amalia’s Descarga Santa. Of the former, he said, ‘Unlike the Buena Vista bands which are heavily guitar based, Conjunto Casino is a brass band, with no strings. Trumpets, trombones and a strong piano, with loads of percussion is the sound of the day here. If you can keep your feet still while this album is playing … you’d better check your pulse.’
Gary reviewed three discs — Ay, Candela, A la Casa de la Trova, and Sentimiento — by three BVSC stars. ‘Ibrahim Ferrer, Eliades Ochoa and Omara Portuondo were three of the main participants in 1996’s groundbreaking, multi-platinum Buena Vista Social Club recording that returned Cuban jazz to the world stage. The Cuban state recording company EGREM, through its New York-based Escondida label, has begun re-releasing tracks by these three and other Cuban artists, which laid the groundwork for the explosion that followed Buena Vista.’
‘Santeros y Salseros is the perfect primer for anyone interested in the various threads that make up modern Cuban music,’ Gary said of one of the four discs he reviewed in another Cuban music omni. Read the review to see what he thought of the whole batch.
‘Does the world really need yet another “various artists” collection of Cuban music?’ That’s what Gary wondered when he picked up the Rough Guide to the Cuban Music Story. He answered in the affirmative. ‘The Cuban Music Story sings, it swings, it sways and it even rocks.’
He also liked The Rough Guide to Cuban Son. ‘The documentation and artwork are professional and well written, adding greatly to the listener’s appreciation. The music lasts a full 71 minutes, giving great value for the money and a wide range of acts.’
He also reviews Guajira mas Guajira, an album of genre-skipping music by two of the top names in Cuban music, Eliades and Maria Ochoa. Eliades was a key player in the world-famous Buena Vista Social Club and has been a member of Cuarteto Patria for many years. Maria is a member of Alma Latina (“Latin soul”) and has sung with a host of Cuban acts. Together, Gary says, they make beautiful music.
‘With superb music recorded from 1955 to 1990, Guantanamera is a thoroughly enjoyable overview of 20th Century Cuban music,’ Gary says of one of the five additional releases from Escondida that he reviewed in an omni, which also includes career overviews of the music of Benny Moré, Juan Formell y los Van Van, Irakere, and Chucho Valdes.
Of another disc, he said, ‘I can’t speak highly enough of Pancho Amat’s De San Antonio a Maisí, an absolutely delightful collection of traditional and contemporary son by today’s living master of the tres.’
He also enjoyed Absolutely Live II by Juan de Marcos’ Afro-Cuban All Stars. ‘Juan de Marcos founded the Afro-Cuban All Stars to tour North America and Europe with the music of the Buena Vista Social Club in 1997. It has continued as one of the world’s top purveyors of the Cuban music known as son, a catchy, folk-based music that combines Afro-Cuban clave with American jazz idioms.’
‘Alex Chadsey, Farko Dosumov and Jeff Busch live in Seattle, where they make music. Solid, groove-filled Cuban jazz, to be precise,’ he said of the trio Duende Libre. He reviewed both their self-titled debut and their sophomore release Drift.
Daymé Arocena makes an infectious blend of danceable Latin music on her sophomore release Cubafonía, Gary noted. ‘The whole album pulls from Cuba’s rich musical legacy. Daymé sings mostly in Spanish, but drops effortlessly into a fluent English and even occasionally into a bit of French.’
Mike found the whole package of Puentes Brothers’ Morumba Cubana very appealing. ‘Morumba Cubana derives its heart and soul from the Puentes brothers, but the back-up talent really gets the numbers down, whether they’re playing something from a street corner in Havana to a bewitching passage straight from a village in the hills to a commercial airplay-ready tune. The liner-notes guide the listener through the various Latin forms (samba, rumba, etc.), and the English translations of the lyrics are quite imaginative.’
Richard Condon did a deep dive into three discs of Cuban jazz: Paquito d’Rivera’s Big Band Time, Elio Villafranca’s Encantaciones, and various artists’ The Rough Guide To Latin Jazz. He particularly enjoyed the former. ‘The classically trained Paquito d’Rivera, who hails from Havana, has played with Dizzy Gillespie and numerous other eminences of the U.S. modern jazz scene. Although he doubles on saxophone, he is a virtuoso of the clarinet, not a very common instrument in Latin jazz, and his style sometimes echoes the clarinettists of the swing era such as Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw, in whose music he is unquestionably steeped.’
Richard Dansky gave a positive review to the Scottish Cuban band La Sonera Calaveras’ Numero Uno! ‘Fans of the genre will be pleased by the straightforward and unpretentious production values on the album, which spares us any attempts at fusion or electronic experimentation in favour of a classic and sincere expression of (mostly) pure son.’
To close things out, here’s a sample from the sadly out of print various artists’ compilation Guantanamera that Gary reviews above. Enjoy the charming big band conjunto of Beny Moré and his orchestra’s Santa Isabel De Las Lajas.
Reynard
I'm the Pub Manager for the Green Man Pub which is located at the KInrowan Estate. I'm married to Ingrid, our Steward who's also the Estate Buyer. If I'm off duty and in a mood for a drink, it'll be a single malt, either Irish or Scottish, no water or ice, or possibly an Estate ale or cider. I'm a concertina player, and unlike my wife who has a fine singing voice, I do not have anything of a singing voice anyone want to hear!
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About Reynard
I'm the Pub Manager for the Green Man Pub which is located at the KInrowan Estate. I'm married to Ingrid, our Steward who's also the Estate Buyer. If I'm off duty and in a mood for a drink, it'll be a single malt, either Irish or Scottish, no water or ice, or possibly an Estate ale or cider. I'm a concertina player, and unlike my wife who has a fine singing voice, I do not have anything of a singing voice anyone want to hear!