GONZALO GRAU Y LA CLAVE SECRETA - FRUTERO MODERNO (2008)
Latin, salsa fusion, Afro-Cuban, contemporary tropical, funky Caribbean, Latin jazz
Gonzalo Grau
Piano & strings; bongo (1,2,12) guiro (10), cajon,chekere, iya (11), lead vocal
(11, 12), back vocal (all except 6)
Panagiotis Andreou Bass (all except 12), lead vocal (6), dumbek (7)
Pablo Bencid Drums (all except 6,10)
Robert Rosario Congas (all except 6,10)
Fausto Cuevas III Timbal (3,7,9,12) & congas (10)
Omar Ledezma Timbal (1,8,10,11)
Jose "BamBam" Ramirez Timbal (2,4,5)
Ernest Diaz Quinto (1,11)
Albert Leusink Ist trukpet (all except 6), solo (10,12)
Dan Brantigan 2nd trumpet (1,2,7,10,11)
Shlomo Cohen Alto sax (all except 6), solo (12)
Felipe Salles Tenor sax (all except 6)
Tim Mayer Flute (1)
Manolo Mairena Lead vocal (all except 6,11,12), back vocal (all except 6)
guiro (all except 10)
Marco Godoy Back vocal (2,5)
Alex Alvear Back vocal (all except 6)
more tracks can be heard on Vinilemania's Radio Channels
review by Peter Watrous - courtesy www.descarga.com
Oh
man, another great record from the Venezuela/Cuba/U.S. matrix.
Grau, a
pianist and bandleader from Venezuela (by way of Berklee College of
Music in Boston) and participant in a bunch of important projects (search
this website and you’ll see what I mean), has changed the name of
his band from La Timba Loca to La Clave Secreta, and has put out a
pretty much amazing timba dance record that suggests that timba is
going to be the lengua franca of modern Caribbean dance music. It’s
timba made international, by which I mean that it takes away the
insularity of Cuban timba (think crappy keyboard sounds) and brings
it into a more experimental place. Grau’s a great writer and
arranger and he takes on some standards, like Willie Colon’s "Calle
Luna, Calle Sol," bringing a sophistication to the coro; on all the
tunes there’s an attention to detail that’s just spectacular
arranging. The music opens up into new rooms over and over again,
new colors and textures, wanders into timba breaks, piano montunos,
spoken works pieces, driving horn lines. This is for fans of Guaco,
timba, Goza Pepillo, Descemer, Robertito Carcasses, Azucar Negra,
etc.: all the new and old bands that aren’t worried about taking on
timba and bringing to it the modern world of experience. Glorious,
this stuff.
Highly Recommended. (Peter Watrous, 2008-04-14)
