official website - myspace page

PUTUMAYO WORLD MUSIC - WOMEN OF JAZZ (2008)

Jazz meets acoustic pop on this collection featuring exceptional female vocalists from the US and Canada

Putumayo’s latest release, Women of Jazz, showcases the originality and artistry of 10 exceptional female vocalists from North America.  This collection offers extraordinary artists from several eras – legends who have inspired today’s generation, stars of the contemporary jazz world and young women just now starting to make their mark on jazz history. Women of Jazz captures the depth and diversity of the female jazz experience.
Women of Jazz includes original songs alongside classic 1920s ballads and Broadway show tunes. A true reflection of the creativity of today’s female jazz artists, their songs often combine jazz with unexpected influences such as rhythm and blues and country ballads.
Melody Gardot’s song “Goodnite” showcases her subtly hip and swinging style. Madeleine Peyroux, whose sultry voice resembles that of Billie Holiday, turns Leonard Cohen’s folk song into a jazz classic. Sophie Milman, winner of Canada’s 2007 Juno award for best jazz vocal album, gives an inspired performance that incorporates gypsy violin and klezmer.
Several songs add a contemporary twist to well known tunes. Cassandra Wilson, a world-renowned jazz innovator, provides a modern take on the classic “Lover Come Back to Me”. Hope Waits’ rendition of “I’ll be Satisfied,” a 1950s rhythm and blues hit for crooner Jackie Wilson, sounds as if it had been written today by a contemporary singer-songwriter. Kate Paradise, part of the new generation of jazz musicians, provides her vocal improvisation of the classic tune “Mean to Me.” Jennifer Hartswick, who was a guest vocalist on several of the band Phish’s recordings, offers a new version of Billie Holiday’s “Lover Man.” Also on the collection, rising star Stacy Kent sings “Shall We Dance?” from The King and I.
Della Griffin, who sang with doo-wop and jazz groups in New York in the 1950s and spent most of the 1970s and 1980s as the featured artist at Harlem’s Blue Book Club, offers her interpretation of the jazz standard “It Could Happen to You.” Etta Jones, a jazz and blues legend, closes the album with the classic “Since I Fell for You.”

PUTUMAYO WORLD MUSIC - CAFE' CUBANO (2008)

Captivating Cuban guajiras, trovas, sones and boleros will transport you to the charming cafes of this musically rich island

Café Cubano is a captivating collection that will transport listeners to the charming cafes of this musically-rich Caribbean island. This album features a selection of exceptional performers who have incorporated Cuba’s diverse musical traditions and distinctive styles into their music.
Several of the songs feature influences from the “nueva trova” movement, in which lyrical poetry is joined with Pan-American folk traditions. Others remain true to the sultry guajiras, romantic boleros and traditional sones which were the underpinning of the renowned Buena Vista Social Club recordings. Cuban music traces its roots back to the melodies of Europe and the rhythms of Africa, and the inspiring blend that resulted from years of interaction between these diverse cultures.

PUTUMAYO WORLD MUSIC - LATIN JAZZ (2007)

Afro-Cuban rhythms and jazz stylings come together on this lively collection of songs by many of the masters of Latin jazz.

Putumayo World Music continues its exploration into the sounds of the Latin diaspora by releasing its first jazz-focused collection. One of the most familiar jazz genres, Latin jazz has achieved global popularity since big bands in the 1940s and 50s started incorporating Afro-Cuban sounds into their arrangements. This mixture of Afro-Cuban rhythms and jazz stylings comes together on Latin Jazz, a lively collection of songs by masters of the genre. Latin Jazz features legends Tito Puente, Ray Barretto, Eddie Palmieri and others.

recensione di GianFranco Grilli

more tracks can be heard on Vinilemania's Radio Channels

PUTUMAYO WORLD MUSIC - LATIN REGGAE (2008)

Cultures converge on this musical medley of reggae beats from Latin America and Spain

Ever since the phenomenal crossover success of Bob Marley began in the 1970s, reggae has taken the world by storm and made its way into the popular musical expressions of every region on the planet. Putumayo World Music invites you to experience the magical blending of Jamaican jams and Latin beats with Latin Reggae, a collection featuring both trailblazers and newcomers from the rock and reggae scenes of Latin America and Spain.
Like their counterparts in Europe, Africa, the US and beyond, the musicians on Latin Reggae have adopted the rhythms and philosophy of reggae, singing socially conscious lyrics in Spanish, and adding elements of regional styles into the flexible reggae groove. Many of these and other Latin reggae groups have made it onto the pop charts over the past twenty years.

more tracks can be heard on Vinilemania's Radio Channels

PUTUMAYO WORLD MUSIC - AFRICAN PARTY (2008)

Get the party started with this fun-filled collection of songs from South Africa to the Ivory Coast

Featuring many of Africa’s greatest artists, this CD collection also celebrates the Putumayo’s 15th Anniversary. African music is among the world’s most captivating and no one will be able to resist moving their feet to this danceable collection.
African Party is the latest installment in the Putumayo journey. In 1991, founder Dan Storper was strolling through Golden Gate Park when he was transfixed by the uplifting sounds of the African group Kotoja. This experience inspired Dan to launch Putumayo World Music as a platform to introduce people to the joyous international sounds that moved him on that day. “I’ll never forget the moment when I came across people of all ages and backgrounds dancing to this exciting African band. Their music was the essence of what has become the Putumayo World Music slogan ‘guaranteed to make you feel good.’ It’s exciting that we’re now celebrating 15 years in existence, 15 offices opened around the world and more than 20 million CDs sold. I couldn’t imagine a more appropriate CD than African Party as a celebration of the music that inspired me to start the company.”
African Party features the inspirational band Kotoja and Oliver Mtukudzi, who released several popular albums on the Putumayo label. Newcomers Chiwoniso from Zimbabwe and Mapumba from the Congo are featured not only on African Party but also on Putumayo Kids’ latest offering, African Dreamland.

PUTUMAYO WORLD MUSIC - TANGO AROUND THE WORLD (2007)

Passion, style and elegance are interwoven to create this musical tapestry of international tango and tango-influenced songs

The elegant style and restrained passion of tango has made it one of the most recognized and popular forms of music and dance around the world. Its romantic allure has earned it such a wide following that there are now tango clubs from Seattle to Sydney. Over the past decade, DJs and contemporary musicians have taken tango in new directions with electronic-based compositions known as "new tango." Putumayo has traveled the globe to find many of the best tango and tango-influenced songs the world has to offer. From tango's birthplace in Buenos Aires to its adoptive homes of Athens, Lisbon, Helsinki and other cities, Tango Around the World weaves together passion, style and elegance to create a rich musical tapestry that features traditional tango alongside contemporary fusions.
 

more tracks can be heard on Vinilemania's Radio Channels

PUTUMAYO WORLD MUSIC - BAILA A LATIN DANCE PARTY (2006)

Featuring Latin flavored tracks from around the world, ¡Baila! is a non-stop celebration of salsa, cumbia, merengue and more

With ¡Baila!, Putumayo showcases purely Latin artists alongside musicians from other regions who have embraced Latin sounds. The party starts in the streets of Havana before hitting the road, making stops in Los Angeles, New York, France, Belgium, Sweden and West Africa. Raul Paz kicks it off with “Mua Mua Mua,” seamlessly blending the deep grooves of his native Cuba with the contemporary stylings he’s picked up since relocating to France. Back in Cuba, his countrymates NG La Banda attempt to conquer the world from their backyard. “La Cachimba” is their mission statement announcing the virtues of a new musical style that’s sure to make them dance in Bayamo, Paris and San José, as the song boasts.
From Cuba, the party travels to Colombia, where the collective known as La-33 is revitalizing salsa by reconnecting it to the genre’s golden era of the 1960s and 70s when it was the soundtrack of New York’s disenfranchised Latino community. Not to be outdone, however, the “city that never sleeps” delivers a rhythm-driven one-two punch with The Spanish Harlem Orchestra and Yerba Buena contributing the best of the old school and the new. On the West Coast, Argentinean ex-pats Los Pinguos and Congo native Ricardo Lemvo integrate various Latin elements that keep the party people on their feet. The next stop on the party express is Ghent, Belgium, where Gabriel Rios landed after leaving his native Puerto Rico to live with his European lover. Experimenting with a variety of influences while maintaining his deep Latin roots has made this unique musician an unlikely pop star in his adopted home. From Belgium, we travel to Stockholm, Sweden, where the high-powered ensemble Calle Real is bringing a thaw to their native city. The Africando All Stars and Brooklyn Funk Essentials round out this collection of high-powered sounds, proving once and for all that the party is right here - on Putumayo’s ¡Baila!.

PUTUMAYO WORLD MUSIC - AFRO-LATIN PARTY (2005)

From African salsa to Cuban son, Afro-Latin Party showcases the Latin sounds heard in nightclubs from Dakar to Havana

Croatian salsa, Cuban ska, and Oregonian mambo!?!? These are three of the unlikely gems listeners will find on Afro-Latin Party. What started out as an effort to provide the perfect soundtrack to a Latin dance party became a tribute to the global appreciation and realization of the musical ricochet between Cuba and Africa. Central to the Afro-Latin phenomenon is Africando, who provide three songs on Afro-Latin Party, each with a different African lead singer. In the 1960s and 1970s, the biggest names in African music—including such heavyweights as Youssou N’Dour and Salif Keita—were performing Latin music, thanks to vinyl that came over from abroad. Cultural exchange between Cuba and the socialist governments in Mali and other parts of West Africa was a regular phenomenon. Performers like the Fania All Stars and Celia Cruz toured Africa and became musical icons.

In 1992, legendary Africando founders Ibrahim Sylla and Boncana Maïga traveled to New York to record with top local salsa musicians, many who were taken by surprise by these Africans performing their phonetically learned Spanish lyrics. Interestingly, many of the band members on the three Africando tracks here, also play on other tracks on Afro-Latin Party.

“I once asked [Putumayo founder] Dan Storper, ‘If you could sign any band in the world ever, who would you sign?’” says album producer and VP of A&R Jacob Edgar. “He said Bob Marley and thought for a moment, and then said Africando.” The band, which uses a revolving roster of African singers, “takes these two separate worlds, and adds something to the style, in the way they sing and the way they arrange, that is so magical. It is almost better than the sum of these two powerful musical elements,” adds Edgar.

It is not surprising to find Nuyorican José Mangual Jr. on the collection. His song, “Ritmo con Aché” celebrates the African roots in Latino culture, referring to the West African Yoruba word, aché—a divine life force from the santería religion, which blends West African spirituality and Catholicism. In 1968, Mangual joined forces with Willie Colón and Hector Lavoe to record some of the most influential salsa albums of all time. Nor is it a shock to hear Chico Álvarez on the set. He’s probably best known for his highly respected New World Gallery program on WBAI radio in New York. Here he sings “Cógele el Gusto,” a song made popular by Celia Cruz in the early 1960s. It was also one of the earliest tracks to use the word salsa to describe Afro-Cuban dance music. This track was first released in 1981 on SAR, the same label that has put out much Afro-Latin music.

Things get interesting when Ska Cubano’s “Babalu”—another tribute to santería—rings through the sound system. Ska Cubano exists as if Cuba never closed its doors to the rest of the Caribbean in 1959. Before that, styles like Trinidadian calypso maintained great popularity in Cuba. With old school Cuban players and a young, stylish ska singer from South London, this band is sure to make waves as Americans hear more from them in the future.

Cubismo—whose presence on this album confirms the global reach of Afro-Latin music—is not only Croatia’s best salsa band, they pride themselves on being able to compete with the hottest groups out of New York or Havana. Jacob Edgar came across the band in his pre-producer days as a music journalist, when he wrote them up for world music mag The Beat, a review that Cubismo later quoted in their own liner notes.

Portland, Oregon’s Pepe and the Bottle Blondes—who are led by a former singer from Pink Martini—deck themselves out with an updated 1950s kitsch mambo delivery. “Cuéntame Que Te Pasó” is a taste from their self-released debut album Latenight Betty. Also from the west coast is Congo-born Ricardo Lemvo, who is equally at home singing in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Lingala, and Kikongo. The CD is rounded out with a salsified Martinique classic, first recorded by Rasta banjo player Kali, but performed here by Martinique-born, Paris-based zouk-super-producer Ronald Rubinel.

Even with all the geographic and era crisscrossing on the album, at its core Afro-Latin Party is still a dance record beckoning party-goers to traverse the planet while they navigate the dance-floor.

more tracks can be heard on Vinilemania's Radio Channels