JOE CUBA'S BRAND OF LATIN MUSIC

Joe Cuba: Bang Bang
From El Alcalde Del Barrio (Fania, 2010)

The one thing I've always admired about Latin music is that the band and singers always sound like they're having so much fun. It's contagious, really. Case and point: the opening of “Bang Bang” by Joe Cuba with his talented crew in tow with their “beep beep” chant in unison, which Donna Summer and her producer's must have been listening to prior to recording Bad Girls.

Cuba brought his brand of boogaloo from his corner of Spanish Harlem to the masses, many through collaborations with Cheo Feliciano and Willie Torres. One such track, “Componte Cundunga,” features a sweet workout on the timbales that maintains a danceable groove throughout.

One of the main reasons Cuba was able to succeed was that he had songs in both English and Spanish. This allowed him to have crossover appeal as well as help the boogaloo scene expand to non-Latin audiences. In crossing over, though, he still was able to keep true to the sound of his music, a pitfall for many artists who try to go down that path. “Swinging Mambo” with Willie Torres is one such song in which the lyrics are in English. Their take on the mambo is less focused on lyrics than it is on rhythmic feel where it fully succeeds.

For those looking to expand the breadth of their music collections into more worldly grooves, this 2-CD set is an excellent place to start.

IN THE HOUSE OF THE RISING SUN

Now and again, you come across an album so good that you just can't get it off repeat. From the opening to closing notes, I was spellbound in between. The opening track, “Awakening,” is peaceful and reminds me of the first time I heard Lonnie Liston Smith's Garden Of Peace. My mind and heart had been kidnapped - thrown into a trunk and I was going wherever this band steered me for the next hour or so.

“Awakening” is what you hear and feel in those groggy moments before your eyes pop open. It captures the sounds of wherever we go in Dreamland and is the reveille that beckons us back to reality. That last held note is like the morning stretch that says, “You're up and you're ready to go!” which leads you to...

The Souljazz Orchestra: Agbara
From Rising Sun (Strut, 2010)

this shot of musical caffeine. Skip the morning coffee and throw this into your music player of choice. If you aren't able to get through the drudgery of the morning with this playing in the background, then don't even bother with the rest or your day. Musically, it hearkens to the Latin classic
“Tiger of San Pedro” as performed by Bill Watrous. It bounces with verve with its marimba-laden background, and those horns... MY GOD!

The rest of the album follows along the same lineage, closing out with a two-part cover of Pharoah Sanders' “Rejoice” suite with first part being more meditative and the second part being more rhytmic and lively.

You can check more out clips over at the official release page. With roots in Ethio-jazz, Afrobeat, Latin, and soul, the band shows they are capable of astounding range, which is no small task. More importantly, though, they accomplish it with a fortitude and semblance of musicality that allows them to be original while still honoring those who inspired them.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is the first must-have release of 2010, and it comes your way February 16th.

SUPER BOWL SUNDAY

Sunday marks one of the biggest television days of the year. In honor of the big game, here are a few selections of songs from or about the three cities involved: New Orleans and Indianapolis, the two participants, and Miami, the host city.

While New Orleans may be underdogs per the oddsmakers, their city's musical history needs no introduction and has a considerably strong edge over Indianapolis. From zydeco, funk, early rock n roll, they have the bases covered.

Indianapolis, though, is no slouch when it comes to musical history. It has produced jazz legends such as Freddie Hubbard and Wes Montgomery as well as pop/R&B icon Babyface who has had considerable success as a writer, producer, and performer.

Huey Piano Smith And His Clowns: High Blood Pressure
From Having A Good Time: The Very Best Of Volume 1 (Westside, 1999)

Starting with the away team's city, Huey Piano Smith and crew present some classic New Orleans music. While not the song they're primarily associated with (that would be “Rockin Pneumonia And The Boogie Woogie Flu”), “High Blood Pressure” comes from the group's highest charting single that is led primarily by a busy horn section and a simple chord change on piano.

If this Super Bowl is the shootout that many analysts are predicting, high blood pressure may be symptomatic for the viewing audience.

Diplomatics: Hum Bug (Pts 1 and 2)
From Live At The South Dallas Pop Festival 1970 Bonus Disc (Now Again, 2003)

In the mid-60s, high school bands cutting records was not uncommon. In Indianapolis, friends who attended Crispus Attucks and Shortridge High Schools, cut their only work (under this moniker, at least) for Lamp Records. They were striving for a dance-based tune, which funny enough has a kind of New Orleans-ish sound a la The Meters.

Catch the drum break toward the end that's by... a teenager. Mean stuff! Soon, I'm supposed to be meeting with Rodney Stepp, who was the leader of the band, to get more inside info about this track and numerous others he worked on throughout his career for a release that's still in the works.

Will Smith: Miami (Miami Sound Machine Remix)
From Miami (CD Single) (Columbia, 1999)

The last of the bunch is an ode to the host city. Will Smith, unless you've been living under a rock, needs no introduction. This isn't the version you'll be likely to hear on the TV going into commercial break, although you may remember a clip of this version from the official music video. While it lacks the familiar Whispers sample, it more than makes up for it with energy from the Emilio Estefan-overseen remix.

The BPMs are cranked compared to the original, and given the content of the song I have always found the music in this version to be more congruent to the subject matter than the original offers, especially with the Latin music history that Miami is known for.

SURPRISES CAN BE SO GOOD

Gaby Moreno: Amapola
From Still The Unknown (Unsigned/Independent, 2008)

I got an e-mail the other day about an indie singer/songwriter who had a soulful tone to her. Now typically this kind of talk is nothing more than a hasty, catchy headline to fill space. For some reason this time, I bit. I looked up her MySpace page to check out her music. There, I was greeted with the warm, beautiful sounds of the bilingual “Amapola” and was drawn in. My first thought was you could easily throw this in the middle of playing the sublime Norah Jones album “Come Away With Me” and not notice that it was a different singer.

That's not meant to imply that she sounds like a Norah clone, but merely to state that she presents herself with an intimacy that is somewhat rare for a newcomer, as unfamiliarity tends to keep us from exposing our innermost feelings. Typically new acts try to hash out a catchy tune with a hook that you find yourself humming while at the copy machine at work. She takes a different approach, though, by drawing you in with a sense of openness.

“Amapola” is a cover of a 1920s bolero that has been covered numerous times, but unlikely with these results. With its sweet melody and stripped acoustic sounds, Moreno's disarming vocals make you feel like the scene in the Christmas classic where the Grinch's heart grows three sizes. Although not quite with this amount of charm, there are other breezy gems that grace your ears on this debut album such as “La Vez Que No Me Pude Atrever.”

However, she also knows how to throw a little attitude into her music, too. “Wrong Side Of The Road” finds her throwing some blues guitar into the chorus and the fadeout. Inspired, in part, by blues artists such as B.B. King and Muddy Waters through some blues compilations she first heard while on a family vacation to the USA from her native Guatemala, she finds a way to blend those sounds into a friendly-sounding pop song.

Currently, she's on tour supporting Ani DiFranco on some east coast US dates along with a few Canadian stops. She's been heralded by NPR and KCRW, and while her career has yet to fully take off, she's certainly got the talent to be around for a long time. With a solid voice and the musical and songwriting chops to back it up, it surprised me that I hadn't yet heard of her. I only wish I got surprises like this more often.

OCOTE SOUL SOUNDS SHOW US HOW A COCONUT CAN ROCK

Ocote Soul Sounds: The Revolt Of The Cockroach People + Cara de Yo No Fui (Ancient Astronauts Remix)
From Coconut Rocks (Deluxe Edition) (ESL Music, 2009)

Antibalas founder Martin Perna and Adriana Quesada of Grupo Fantasma have once again come together as Ocote Soul Sounds. Their latest album “Coconut Rock,” most recently released today in a digital-only deluxe form (the standard version can still be found at your local music store), finds their blend of various stylings really turning up the heat. Tacked on to the end of the standard album are 5 remixes of the standard version's original mixes.

From the opening baritone sax lines that repeat its catchy riff in “The Revolt Of The Cockroach People,” your ears have been prepared for the next hour or so. Fans of the El Michels Affair or the Menahan Street Band will immediately put this track on repeat as it has a spunk about it that resonates well after its all-too-short 3 minutes is up.

The reggae rhythm of “Cara de Yo No Fui” gets the remix treatment courtesy of Ancient Astronauts, another member of the ESL Music family. The remix starts with a spaced-out feel as you're given a sense of stepping out of the spin cycle before the drums kick in and set you straight. Those drums, which are not in the original version, give the track a real sense of urgency that complements the reggae stabs very well.

The album is a great blend of instrumental prowess that, even aside from its accompanied vocals, more than stands on its own as an accomplished work. There's a fuzzed-out electric guitar on “Return Of The Freak,” the aforementioned baritone sax riff, and even a light flute that permeates throughout that show Perna and Quesada, along with their other 5 bandmates, aren't going to be restricted to one style or sound. We, the listeners, are the greatest benefactors of their gifts and hard work.

MUCHO MAMBO

Tito Rodriguez: Cara de Payaso
From A Man And His Music: El Inolvidable (Fania, 2009)

I'm the first to admit that I'm not a leading expert on Latin music – not even close. But the Fania label, I do know. Fellow blogger/journalist Oliver Wang has hepped me to some great tunes Latin tunes over at Soul-Sides over the last couple of years, and my appetite has certainly been whet from some of his selections.

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, I was reading about Pucho and His Latin Soul Brothers as I've been catching up on some old Waxpoetics issues (in this case, issue 9.) Pucho was well known for his mambos, as was Tito.

This particular comp, which was released a couple of weeks ago, is a 2-CD introduction to the uninformed (me), a greatest hits, if you will. Interspersed among the studio tracks are a few live tracks like the hip swayer “Si Te Contara.” If I spoke Spanish, I'd be able to speak with a more educated sense of what's transpiring. Maybe he's wooing a lady on the dancefloor with some sensuous speak, or maybe he's talking about running weekend errands. I honestly couldn't tell you the difference. What I can say is that his voice is assured and confident; sweet, with a lilt. He knows his strengths and plays to them, never trying to do more than is needed, itself a lost artform. This all lends to a certain sensuality in the song, all the more enhanced with its musical counterpart – also confident and succinct. It is steady and effectively utilizes dynamics. Throughout the verses, the dynamics lay low like a prowler in the bushes just waiting for the opportunity to attack. That moment comes midway in a bridge, of sorts, where the brass really breaks through.

“Cara de Payaso” has a faster tempo. The dynamics are again in play here, playing more understated during the verse and breaking out during the bridge and chorus. Percussion is one of the strongest elements of Latin music, and again midway through the track you get a nice break with a little cowbell... and who doesn't love a little more bell?

This compilation proves that you don't have to know much about a genre of music to enjoy it. You don't even have to know the language. You can listen to the sounds of a well-trained, fully capable band and to the singer's passion for his artform and somehow the message still gets through. After all, passion, the last time I checked, still counts for something and is the reason music like this lives on even after its creator has passed.