GILBERTO PULPO COLON - PULPO'S HOT BREAD (2008)
No-nonsense, hard-driving dance music from Héctor Lavoe's legendary pianist. Debut CD featuring some of the biggest names in Latin Music bringing a clever mixture of Latin Jazz & Salsa
Gilberto "Pulpo"
Colón Jr. Piano
José Raul Santiago Bass
Ramon "Ray" Martinez
Bass
Pablo "Chino" Nuñez Jr.
Timbales
"Pequeño" Johnny Rivero
Congas, bongos, bell, güiro, shekere
Wilson "Chembo" Corniel
Congas
Richie Bastar Bongos, bell
José Davila Trombones
Luis "Pipi" Cruz Trombones
Joe De Jesús Trombones
David Gómez Batá, prayer
Jorge Gonzalez Marcacas, clave, güiro
Héctor "Popote" Jiménez Lead vocals, coro
Jorge Maldonado Coro
Eddie Rosado Coro
more tracks can be heard on Vinilemania's Radio Channels
review by Peter Watrous - courtesy www.descarga.com
A
recording like this will probably be overlooked today, though not
tomorrow. The greatness of the groove, the explosion of the Puerto
Rican/New York style so late in the day will be appreciated in
historical terms — you know, a work of genius after the genre had
flowered, etc. My suggestion: buy some of these now, give them away
to friends and neighbors, get insistent with them, make them pay
attention as the recording, essentially a descarga led by the
ferocious montunos of Colon’s piano, is a celebration of all the
best things that have happened in what’s called salsa. And Colon’s a
mean pianist, taking the band down to a whisper in some of his solos,
and setting up all sorts of tricky tempo changes — listen to "Tirandote
Flores" — to take the recording out of the range of the ordinary,
and placing it where it should be, in the world of improvisation.
Good musicians all over the date, too, including Chino Nuñez, Jorge
Gonzalez, Chembo Corniel, Johnny Rivero and Richie Bastar on
percussion, a coro including the lead singer Papote Jimenez, and
Jorge Maldonado and Eddie Rosado. Jose Santiago and Ray Martinez
show up on bass, and there’s a trombone section including Jose
Davila, Luis Cruz and Joe de Jesus. What I like about this date is
its naturalism: it sounds like a live session, really well recorded,
enjoyed by both the band and the audience. Going to be hard to bump
this from ‘08’s top ten list.
Highly Recommended. (Peter Watrous, 2008-04-13)
