Big Earl Sellar wrote this review.
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.
Awash in deep rhythms, with those descending piano lines and bass originally born in ska, this is dance music. But there really aren’t any “defined” dance rhythms here, no real tangos or mambos. Featuring up to three percussionists at once, there are counter-rhythms aplenty. Horns are reserved more for melody lines, or “cool” jazz lines, with flute gracing many tracks. Several tracks feature “chorus” vocals, in the New World tradition; four tracks feature lead vocal lines, by strong-voiced males.
There is nothing out of the ordinary here. Undoubtedly stronger live (there’s a feel of restraint in the performances), much of this disc fades into background music, with its easy, laid-back rhythms. Nothing really seemed too original here either, outside of some unfamiliar sounding percussion instruments. The melodies and horn charts are pretty typical affairs, for both Caribbean and light jazz. And although the recording is crisp, sometimes (such as on “La Clave”) the percussion is too loud in the mix, drowning out singer Daniel Somaroo’s smooth voice.
Nothing profound, nothing groundbreaking, but nothing offending either. Sangre Negra offers neither positive nor negative attributes: it’s simply a disc of shimmery, run-of-the-mill Latino dance music. It’s really hard to make a recommendation on this one; if you stumble across it, it may be worth a listen. Either that, or pick up Sangre Negra on the way to your Latin dance lessons.
(Sony France, 1999)
[Big Earl Sellar]
